Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Vachellia macracantha
Acacia botón, Acacia
A spiny acacia. Shrub or small tree, 8m tall, with straight thorns, 1-3 mm long and 0.5-1 mm wide leaflets. The flowers are yellow to orange and the fruit is sessile (Wiggins and Porter, 1971). The seed pods are like flat beans.
At the Arid and Transition Zone, a slow growing tree (Atkinson et al., 2023).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)
Order
Fabales
Family
Fabaceae
Genus
Vachellia
Species
macracantha
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Acacia macracantha Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd (POWO, 2022).
Origin: Native
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: The native range of this species is S. Florida, Mexico to Tropical America to N. Chile (POWO, 2023).
- Andersson, N.J. (1855) Om Galápagos Öarnes Vegetation. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien Handl., Stockholm: 61-256.
- Atkinson, R. Guézou, A. & Jaramillo, P. (2009) Siémbrame en tu jardín - Plantas nativas para jardines en Galápagos. Fundación Charles Darwin, Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador, 151 pp.
- Ebinger, J. Seigler, D. & Clarke, H. (2000) Taxonomic revision of South American species of the genus Acacia subgenus Acacia (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) Systematic Botany, 25(4):588-617.
- Hooker, J.D. (1847) An Enumeration of the Plants of the Galapagos Archipelago; with descriptions of those which are new. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 20: 163-233.
- Quintana, M.C. (2010) Wild plants in the dry valleys around Quito-Ecuador. Publicaciones del Herbario QCA, PUCE. Quito-Ecuador, 266 pp.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2022) Plants of the world online POWO (2022): Plants of the world online. Published on the Internet; Https://powo.science.kew.org/
- Schofield, E.K. (1984) Plants of the Galapagos Islands. Field Guide and Travel Journal. Universe Books, New York, 159 pp.
- Schönitzer, K. (1975) Galápagos Plants. Privately Published, Quito: 1-43.
- Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Vachellia macracantha", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=20282. Accessed 31 October 2026.