Faidherbia albida

Faidherbia is a genus of leguminous plants containing one species, Faidherbia albida, native to Africa and the Middle East. The species was formerly widely included in the genus Acacia as Acacia albida. It has also been introduced to Pakistan and India. Common names for it include apple-ring acacia (their circular, indehiscent seed pods resemble apple rings), ana tree, balanzan tree, gao tree and winter thorn. It is a thorny tree growing up 6–30 m (20–98 ft) tall and 2 m (6.6 ft) in trunk diameter. Its deep-penetrating tap root makes it highly resistant to drought. The bark is grey, and fissured when old. There are 11,000 seeds/kg. Faidherbia albida is not listed as being a threatened species. It grows in areas with 250–600 mm (9.8–23.6 in) of rain per year. Faiderbia albida is known in the Bambara language as balanzan and is the official tree of the city of Segou on the Niger River in central Mali. According to legend, Segou is home to 4,444 balanzan trees, plus one mysterious 'missing tree' the location of which cannot be identified. In Serer and some of the Cangin languages, it is called Saas. Saas figures prominently in the creation myth of the Serer people. According to their creation myth, it is the tree of life and fertility. The northernmost natural populations are found in relict groves in Israel (in the Shimron nature reserve, near the community settlement of Timrat). All of the trees in a given grove are genetically identical and seem to have multiplied by vegetative reproduction only, for thousands of years. Faidherbia albida is important in the Sahel for raising bees, since its flowers provide bee forage at the close of the rainy season, when most other local plants do not. The seed pods are important for raising livestock, are used as camel fodder in Nigeria, and are relished by elephant, antelope, buffalo, baboons and various browsers and grazers, though strangely ignored by warthog and zebra.