Twisted Acacia
Vachellia schaffneri

SUN full sun or even reflected heat
WATER low
SOIL not picky, but well-drained
HARDINESS hardy to about 15°F
BASIN high zone
CONTAINER not recommended
NUTRITION low
MAINTENANCE very little

ECOLOGY
Nectar-rich flowers used by many insects. Larval host for the Mexican yellow (Eurema mexicana), Mimosa yellow (Pyrisitia nise), and Reakirt's blue (Hemiargus isola) as well as several species of moths.

ETHNOBOTANY
The wood is a prized firewood, especially for cooking. Where these trees are native, they are used as livestock browse for sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as for shade for those animals. The wood is heavy and high strength, and can be used to create a variety of products, including furniture, flooring, heavy platforms, marine structures and posts, buildings, and fences. Acacias are almost always used medicinally by the indigenous people who live with them.

NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
Native to the Chihuahuan desert within southern Texas and northern Mexico. It occupies elevations of 2000 to 8200 in dry sites, successional fields, pastures, and other disturbed sites from south Chihuahua and Coahuila, to Veracruz and northern Oaxaca, Mexico

TAXONOMY AND NAME
This plant is in the Fabaceae, the legume family. The genus Vachellia contains 162 species worldwide.
This plant was formerly known as Acacia schaffneri.
The genus Vachellia commemorates Rev. John Harvey Vachell (1798-1839), chaplain to the British East India Company in Macao from 1825-1836 and a plant collector in China. The specific epithet, schaffneri, is attributed to the German dentist and botanist Wilhelm Schaffner, who settled within Mexico City in 1856.