Senegalia caffra (Thunb.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb.

Shrub or tree to 14 m high; trunk to 0.6 m diam.; crown often rounded. Bark reddish-or dark-brown to blackish, rough, frequently transversely and longitudinally fissured; young branchlets glabrous to sparingly or densely tomentose, eglandular or with minute reddish glands. Stipules not spinescent, in pairs, linear, 2.5-4 x 0.2-0.8 mm, soon deciduous. Prickles in pairs just below each node (rarely absent or with a few additional prickles scattered elsewhere on the stems), recurved or sometimes ± straight, dark-brown to blackish, up to 9 mm long. Leaves: petiole (0.5)0.8-3(4) cm long, adaxial gland variable in position, often slightly below the lowest pinna pair, 0.7-1.5 x 0.3-0.7 mm; rhachis (2)5-15(22.7) cm long, glabrous to densely tomentose, abaxial surface often with recurved prickles up to 3 mm long, with a gland at the junction of the top 1-3 pinnae pairs, occasionally between each pinna pair, or absent from some; pinnae (6)8-26(38) pairs; rhachillae (1.1)2.4-5(6.7) cm long, glabrous to tomentose; leaflets (13)21-50(64) pairs per pinna, 2-7(12.2) x 0.7-1.5(2.3) mm, linear to linear-oblong, apex rounded to subacute, glabrous to sparingly or densely appressed-pubescent below, margins with or without appressed or spreading cilia. Inflorescences spicate, solitary, fascicled or crowded into an irregular terminal panicle. Flowers yellowish-white, sessile; spikes (2)2.6-6.5(10) cm long; peduncles (0.2)0.8-2.5(4.1) cm long, subglabrous to densely tomentose, often glandular. Calyx campanulate, puberulous to pubescent or occasionally subglabrous or glabrous, tube 1-1.6 mm long, lobes 0.2-0.8 mm long. Corolla sometimes tinged with pink, puberulous to tomentose or occasionally glabrous, tube up to 2.5 mm long, lobes up to 1 mm long. Stamen-filaments free, up to 6 mm long; anthers ±0.15 mm across, with a deciduous apical gland. Ovary 0.5-1.9 mm long, glabrous or subglabrous, sessile or shortly stipitate. Pods light or dark brown, 4.5-19.7 x 0.7-1.5(2.7) cm, linear, straight or occasionally ± falcate, rounded to acuminate apically, longitudinally dehiscent, coriaceous, umbonate over the seeds, subglabrous or puberulous, seldom tomentose, with few to numerous reddish-brown glands scattered over the surface. Seeds olive-to light brown, subcircular to elliptic-lenticular, 6-12 x 4-8 mm, compressed; central areole 2-5 x 2-4 mm, horseshoe shaped.

It is a tropical and subtropical plant. It grows from the coast to the high veld grasslands. It can survive fire. It can tolerate frost and drought. In Indonesia it grows up to 2,000 m above sea level.

Plants are easy to grow from seeds. The seeds need hot water treatment before they will germinate. The hot water can simply be poured over them. They are best sown directly as the taproot limits transplanting.