PlantFiles: Molina
Acacia caven

About the common name:

Here in Argentina we call it "Espinillo" which technically means the same thing as “Espino” (the way it’s called in Chile, according to my friend Ursula). “Espina” is the Spanish word for “thorn”.
I believe Molina is the person who named this little tree, so… this makes me think that the English common name could be a mistake.

About the Latin name:

Acacia comes from the Greek word “akis” which means “thorn”.
caven is the way Mapuche Indians call this tree in its native tongue.

About the tree:

As Ursula and Palmbob have mentioned it, its flowers are very fragrant.
People in the countryside put them in the closet or in-between stored clothe or sheets to make them smell better.
In popular medicine its leaves are used as a cicatrizing agent and its seeds as digestive, probably because of its high concentration on tannins.
Its wood is used mostly in charcoal production but also for “pole making”.

The popular name of this Chilean native tree is Espino.

Its natural habitat is on very dry, poor soil, at full sun. This tree reaches 6 m height and has wonderfully scented flowers that are used in the perfume industry worldwide. The wood is often burned to produce high quality charcoal. Birds love to build their nests in this treee. Cattle and goats eat the seed pods.

Propagation: from seeds in Autumn. Seeds must be scarified (either mechanically or chemically) and soaked 48 hours in cold water before sowing (stratified) in a mix of 2 portions river sand, 1 portion compost and one portion regular garden soil. Plantils are transplanted into individual pots once they have developed 4 true leaves. This is a very fast growing tree: 0.50 m during the first year and 1.5 m the second.

An attractive small tree with small leaflets and spines that has an amazing color in the spring thanks to such dense masses of little puff-ball shaped yellow flowers (common to many Acacias in the spring). Found it on the international list of weeds and invasive plants, though. Is so drought hardy can survive in many places where most other plants cannot. Supoosedly the flowers have a nice smell, but I could not appreciate that.