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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 P. Mill. -- acacia P

Species  Acacia angustissima (P. Mill.) Kuntze -- prairie acacia P

 

Alternate Names

Fern acacia, white-ball acacia, Texas acacia, prairie guajillo

 

Uses

Erosion control: Prairie acacia may provide ground cover vegetation for critically eroding areas to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality.

 

Livestock: Prairie acacia forms a symbiotic association with rhizobial bacteria, and this association fixes atmospheric nitrogen. The measured crude protein percentage of prairie acacia leaves ranges from 16 to 29. Prairie acacia can withstand frequent cutting or defoliation. Prairie acacia has been extensively investigated as a fodder shrub/tree for tropical areas. Reports describe prairie acacia as having low to moderate palatability. The leaves of prairie acacia contain tannins and non-protein amino acids. These compounds are toxic to some animals. Sudden dietary supplementation with prairie acacia fodder at high concentrations caused death in sheep. The signs of toxicity from prairie acacia are similar to those exhibited by sheep fed flat pea (Lathyrus sylvestris) hay. Rabbits fed prairie acacia leaves (20% of the diet) exhibited a progressive reduction of intake and weight reduction. All rabbits consuming prairie acacia showed central nervous system disturbances. Researchers, in Stephenville, Texas, compared 15 native perennial herbaceous legumes for herbage production, crude protein percentage, and laboratory measurements of digestibility. Prairie acacia exhibited high, compared to the other species, herbage yield and crude protein percentage. The laboratory measurements suggested that prairie acacia is more digestible to livestock than other species tested

 

Restoration: Prairie acacia is a hardy and drought tolerant plant that is useful for revegetation of land disturbed by mining or road construction.

 

Wildlife: Prairie acacia is browsed by white-tail deer. It is a prolific seed producer. Quail and other birds will utilize the seed for food and the vegetation provides cover for small animals and wild birds.

 

Alley Cropping: Prairie acacia has potential as a nitrogen fixation tree for alley cropping systems in the Caribbean and other subtropical and tropical areas. 

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

 

Description

Pea Family (Fabaceae).  Prairie acacia is a native, perennial, warm-season, hardy, deep taproot legume.  A smooth and small rounded shrub, forming colonies by means of woody rhizomes with aerial stems and that are thornless and rarely over three feet tall.  The plant has an attractive and delicate fern-like foliage which closes at night and when touched.  Stems are thin, usually unbranched, glabrate, and ridged.  Leaves are alternate, the blade divided into usually 3-12 pairs of segments, these again divided into 6-20 pairs of tiny leaflets.  Flowers are small and white to creamy yellow.  It has 5 petals and stamens numerous, long, and protruding.  Flowers numerous, congested in rounded terminal clusters on long stalks arising from upper leaf axils.  Fruit is brownish flat seed pod 4-7 cm (1.6-2.8 in) long and 6-8 mm (0.25-0.3) wide. Plant is similar in appearance to Illinois bundleflower, Desmanthus illinoensis, but the fruit and leaf structures are different.

 

Adaptation

Prairie acacia is native from Columbia and the Caribbean, north to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Florida. Prairie acacia is a tough subshrub found in dry soils on prairie hillsides, savannahs, rock outcrops, grasslands and open shrubby vegetation areas. It grows on well-drained acidic to slightly alkaline soils. This drought tolerant perennial subshrub grows from Zones 6a-10b of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones Map.

 

Establishment

A well prepared seedbed that has been plowed, harrowed, and compacted to produce a clean and firm seedbed is required.  For seed production at the NRCS/James E. ‘Bud’ Smith Plant Materials Center near Knox City, Texas, seeds were planted in 40 inch row pattern at a depth of ¾ inch at five 5 Pure Live Seed (PLS) pound per acre. A two row cotton planter, with a junior planter attachment, for slick seeds, was used. 

On established pasture a native grass drill equipped with coulters and with a small legume box will do well for planting.  Another planting method if a native grass drill is not available or cannot be used due to terrain, is tracking the ground with a bulldozer then broadcasting the seed.  Seeds should be inoculated before planting with a general cowpea inoculant. The proper time of planting is from March to April to assure establishment before summer. The seed of prairie acacia are small, about 198450-220500 seeds per pound. Mechanical scarification and soaking seed in cold water have produced increases in the germination percentage.   

 

Management

Plan a grazing management system for prairie acacia growing in pasture or rangeland. Prairie acacia can decrease under misuse or heavy grazing.  For an aesthetic landscape use, these plants with their round white flowers that appear in the summer into fall, are attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds.

 

Pests and Potential Problems

No Pest or potential problems were found on prairie acacia while growing at the NRCS/James E. ‘Bud’ Smith Plant Materials Center near Knox City, Texas.

 

Cultivars, Improved, and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

There are currently no cultivars of prairie acacia in the commercial seed or plant production.

 

Prepared By

Rudy G. Esquivel, USDA NRCS James E. “Bud” Smith Plant Materials Center, Knox City, Texas

and

James Henson, USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Species Coordinator:

Rudy G. Esquivel, USDA NRCS/James E. ‘Bud’ Smith Plant Materials, Center, Knox City, Texas

 

Edited: 070108 jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

Summary
Duration	Perennial
Growth Habit	Tree, Shrub, Vine
U.S. Nativity	Native to U.S.
Federal T/E Status
National Wetland Indicator	FACU+, FAC
Morphology/Physiology
Active Growth Period	Spring and Summer
After Harvest Regrowth Rate
Bloat
C:N Ratio	High
Coppice Potential	No
Fall Conspicuous	Yes
Fire Resistant	No
Flower Color	Green
Flower Conspicuous	Yes
Foliage Color	Green
Foliage Porosity Summer	Moderate
Foliage Porosity Winter	Porous
Foliage Texture	Medium
Fruit/Seed Color	Brown
Fruit/Seed Conspicuous	No
Growth Form	Single Stem
Growth Rate	Moderate
Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)	15
Height, Mature (feet)	20
Known Allelopath	No
Leaf Retention	No
Lifespan	Short
Low Growing Grass	No
Nitrogen Fixation
Resprout Ability	Yes
Shape and Orientation	Erect
Toxicity	None
Growth Requirements
Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Fine Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Medium Textured Soils	Yes
Anaerobic Tolerance	None
CaCO3 Tolerance	None
Cold Stratification Required	Yes
Drought Tolerance	Low
Fertility Requirement	Medium
Fire Tolerance	Medium
Frost Free Days, Minimum	200
Hedge Tolerance	None
Moisture Use	Medium
pH, Minimum	5.5
pH, Maximum	7.5
Planting Density per Acre, Minimum	700
Planting Density per Acre, Maximum	1100
Precipitation, Minimum	24
Precipitation, Maximum	80
Root Depth, Minimum (inches)	24
Salinity Tolerance	None
Shade Tolerance	Tolerant
Temperature, Minimum (°F)	-13
Reproduction
Bloom Period	Spring
Commercial Availability	No Known Source
Fruit/Seed Abundance	Medium
Fruit/Seed Period Begin	Summer
Fruit/Seed Period End	Fall
Fruit/Seed Persistence	No
Propagated by Bare Root	Yes
Propagated by Bulb	No
Propagated by Container	Yes
Propagated by Corm	No
Propagated by Cuttings	No
Propagated by Seed	Yes
Propagated by Sod	No
Propagated by Sprigs	No
Propagated by Tubers	No
Seed per Pound	4620
Seed Spread Rate	Slow
Seedling Vigor	Medium
Small Grain	No
Vegetative Spread Rate	None
Suitability/Use
Berry/Nut/Seed Product	No
Christmas Tree Product	No
Fodder Product	No
Fuelwood Product	High
Lumber Product	No
Naval Store Product	Yes
Nursery Stock Product	No
Palatable Browse Animal	Low
Palatable Graze Animal
Palatable Human	No
Post Product	No
Protein Potential
Pulpwood Product	No
Veneer Product	No

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Rosidae

Order  Sapindales

Family  Aceraceae -- Maple family

Genus  Acer L. -- maple P

Species  Acer circinatum Pursh -- vine maple P

 

Alternative Name

Oregon vine maple

 

Uses

Ethnobotanic: Native Americans used the straight long stems for making baskets used for general household utility such as carrying wood and fish.  They also carved the wood into numerous household utensils such as spoons, bowls, and platters.  The sap contains a certain amount of sugar and that used as a drink or concentrated into syrup by boiling off the water (Facciola 1990).  Vine maple was used occasionally for tool handles of axes, and frames.  This species was used by the Indians of the northwest coast for the bows of their fishing nets (Sargent 1933).  The saplings were used for babies’ cradles.

 

Medicinal: The wood was burnt to charcoal and mixed with water and brown sugar then used in the treatment of dysentery and polio (Moerman 1998).

 

Wildlife: The seeds and buds provide food for squirrels, chipmunks, and numerous birds.  Cattle and sheep eat vine maple leaves.  During the summer months the leaves and twigs are a preferred food of black-tailed deer and elk.

 

Agroforestry: Vine maple is used in forested riparian buffers to help reduce stream bank erosion, protect water quality, and enhance aquatic environments.

 

Status

Please consult the Plants Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.

 

Description

General: Maple Family (Aceraceae).  Vine maple is a native, deciduous shrub or small tree that ranges between ten to twenty feet.  The leaves are round to cordate, usually seven to nine centimeters long, pointed, and double toothed.  The flowers are white petals in small loose clusters emerging with the leaves.  The bark is thin, smooth, and greenish becoming bright reddish brown.

 

Distribution: Acer circinatum occurs in the Pacific Northwest ranging from the Cascade Mountains to southern British Columbia to northern California.  For current distribution, please consult the Plant profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

 

Adaptation

Vine maple occurs most frequently on moist soils along the banks of streams and wet sites.  It commonly occurs with Douglas fir, Pacific dogwood, big leaf maple, and western hemlock.  This species prefers shady areas but can tolerate the sun.  It sometimes grows in clumps or patches (Farrar 1995).

 

Establishment

Propagation from Seed: The seeds should be gathered and immediately stratified for 90 days at 41º F to break seed dormancy.  Sow the seeds in containers or seed trays containing a slow release fertilizer.  Firm the medium and place the seeds thinly and evenly on top and cover with medium (Heusser 1997).  Seedlings should be placed into individual pots when they are large enough to handle.

 

Propagation from Softwood Cuttings: Cuttings should be done in the spring or early summer in the early morning.  Take cuttings about five to ten centimeters long, just above the node.  Put cuttings in a plastic bag to prevent moisture loss (Heuser 1997).  They must not be allowed to wilt.  Trim the cuttings below the lowest node to remove the lower leaves leaving three or four at the tip (Ibid.).  A rooting hormone may be applied to improve rooting before planting.  Insert the cuttings in the rooting medium up to half their length so the leaves don’t touch each other.  The cuttings should root in two to three weeks, after which they can be potted (Ibid.).

 

Management

Constant pruning is needed to avoid long internodes.  Watering may be reduced in the winter but the soil should be kept evenly moist.

 

Vine maple sends out slender arching branches in the wild.  These form roots when they touch the ground and the plant thereby forms large impenetrable thickets often several hectares (Sargent 1965).

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Somewhat available through native plant nurseries.

 

References

Britton, N.L. 1908.  North American trees.  Henry Holt & Company, New York, New York.

 

Dirr, M.A. 1990.  Manual of woody landscape plants: their identification, ornamental characteristics, culture, propagation, and uses.  4^th ed.  Stipes Publishing Co., Champaigne, Illinois.

 

Facciola, S. 1990.  Cornucopia-a source book of edible plants.  Kampong Publications.

 

McMinn, H.E. 1951.  An illustrated manual of California shrubs.  University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, California.

 

McMinn, H.E. & E. Maino 1951.  An illustrated manual of pacific coast trees.  University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

 

Moerman, D. 1998.  Native American ethnobotany.  Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

 

Heuser, C.W. 1997.  The complete book of plant propagation.  The Taunton Press, Newtown, Connecticut.

 

Preston, R.J., Jr. 1989.  North American trees.  4^th ed.  Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.

 

Rehder, A. 1940.  Manual of cultivated trees and shrubs hardy in North America.  2^nd ed.  The MacMillan Company, New York, New York.

 

Sargent, C.S. 1933.  Manual of the trees of North America.  The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

Sargent, C.S. 1965.  Manual of the trees of North America.  Vol. 1.  Dover Publications, Inc., New York, New York.

 

Prepared By

Jammie Favorite, formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Species Coordinator

Lincoln Moore, USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Edited: 10jan02 jsp; 25feb03 ahv; 24may06jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

 

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture