Plant Name
Scientific Name: Acacia angustissima
Common Names: Prairie Acacia, White-ball Acacia
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Deciduous
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Upland
Flower Color: White, Greenish cream, Pinkish
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall or more
Description: The flowers are clustered into 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) wide, fuzzy balls of stamens and will open white and age to a pinkish color. The flowers are followed by flat, elongated, brown seedpods. The leaves are green and bipinnate with tiny leaflets. The stems are hairy, reddish, and spineless. The larger stems are ridged and grooved, unlike the similar, but taller and smooth-stemmed Lysiloma watsonii.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies and other insects like bees.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus: Acacia Mill. – acacia
Species: Acacia angustissima (Mill.) Kuntze – prairie acacia
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