Senegalia mellifera (Benth.) Seigler & Ebinger

Much branched, dense, ± obconical shrub or a tree to 6 m high. Bark grey-brown to purplish-black, smooth or rough and fissured; young branchlets olive-or reddish-brown to greyish-brown or purplish-black, with numerous somewhat transversely elongated pale lenticels, glabrous or pubescent. Stipules not spinescent, in pairs, linear, 1-2.5 x 0.2-0.8 mm, soon deciduous. Prickles in pairs just below each node, strongly recurved, often not spreading but lying almost parallel to each other, up to 6 mm long, grey-brown to blackish. Leaves: petiole 0.2-1.2(2) cm long, glabrous or pubescent, adaxial gland usually present, variable in position, 0.2-0.7 x 0.2-0.6 mm; rhachis (0.2)0.5-2(4) cm long, glabrous to pubescent, frequently with a gland at the junction of the top 1-2 pinnae pairs; pinnae 1-3, rarely 4 pairs; rhachillae 0.1-1.6 cm long; leaflets 1-2, rarely 3, pairs per pinna, 3.5-15(20) x 2-12 mm, very variable in shape, obliquely obovate to obovate-elliptic or-oblong, apex rounded to emarginate or subacute and often apiculate, venose, glabrous or appressed-pubescent below, margins with or without cilia. Inflorescences subglobose to ellipsoid but the axes clearly elongate, or in elongated spikes, fascicled or solitary. Flowers yellowish-white or cream, buds often with a purplish tinge, on pedicels (0.5)0.75-1.5 mm long; axes 0.15-3.5 cm long; peduncles 0.3-1.4 cm long, glabrous or pubescent. Calyx cupular, often tinged with purple apically, glabrous or sometimes slightly pubescent near the apices of the lobes, tube 0.4-1 mm long, lobes very small, up to 0.2 mm long. Corolla glabrous or sometimes slightly pubescent near the apices of the lobes, tube up to 2.5 mm long, lobes to 1.4 mm long, often tinged with purple. Stamen-filaments free, 4-6.5 mm long; anthers 0.15-0.25 mm across, with a deciduous apical gland. Ovary up to 1.1 mm long, glabrous, shortly stipitate. Pods greenish-yellow to straw-coloured or brown, 2.5-8 (9.3) x 1.3-2.5(3.2) cm, oblong, straight, rounded to acute, acuminate or sometimes rostrate apically, longitudinally dehiscent, chartaceous, venose, glabrous. Seeds 7-10 x 6-8 mm, subcircular-lenticular, compressed; central areole small, 2-3 x 2-3 mm, horseshoe shaped.

It is a tropical plant. In east Africa it grows up to 1,500 m above sea level. It grows on loamy soils. It grows in areas with annual rainfalls between 40-800 mm. It can grow in arid places. It is drought tolerant. It grows in the Sahel.

The roots are used for flavouring and to curdle milk.

Plants can be grown from seeds. The seeds can be sown direct or put in a nursery. Seeds germinate in 2-14 days. The seeds should be soaked in cold water for 12 hours or scratched to break the hard seed coat. Plants can be cut back and will re-grow.