PlantFiles: Apple-ring Acacia, Ana Tree, Winter Thorn
Acacia albida

I have npt grown this plant that is native to the Transvaal and Southwest Africa, through West and North Africa to Egypt, and East Africa. Some interesting facts follow:

In Africa, it sheds its leaves during the rainy season and when it is dry new leaves are produced. Its pods were worn as charms by African women and children to avert smallpox. The wood is used for canoes, mortars, and pestles and the bark is pounded in Nigeria and used as a packing material on pack animals.

"Ashes of the wood are used in making soap and as a depilatory and tanning agent for hides. VITA (1977) says the wood is used for carving; the thorny branches useful for a natural barbed fence. Pods and foliage are highly regarded as livestock fodder. Some 90% of Senegalese farmers interviewed by Felker (1981) collected, stored, and rationed Acacia alba pods to livestock. Rhodesians use the pods to stupefy fish. Humans eat the boiled seeds in times of scarcity in Rhodesia."

"Reported to serve as an emetic in fevers (Masai), taken for diarrhea in Tanganyika. Also used for colds, diarrhea, hemorrhage, and ophthalmia in West Africa. The bark of the Ana tree is a folk remedy for diarrhea among several tribes. On the Ivory Coast it is used for leprosy. The bark decoction curtails nausea. A liniment, made by steeping the bark, is used for bathing and massage in pneumonia,"

Source: James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.

Sort of a scrubby tree with dinky leaves and yellow flowers. And AFrican native commonly eaten by giraffe. This thorny tree is quite drought tolerant. It flowers 3 times a year with small, yellowy flowers. You can find this tree in many botanical gardens in So Cal, but is not commonly grown in landscaping.