Vachellia xanthophloea more branch than foliage

The leaves of Vachellia xanthophloea are bipinnate, growing up to eight per node, some secondary leaves clearly smaller than the one or two primary ones. Four to seven pairs of pinnae on a leaf each carries 10 to 17 pairs of pinnules. Young leaves are paler. The tiny pinnules may drop off quite young, leaving some skeletal leaf structures that have glands on the rachis between the top pinnae, as well as on the petiole that is sometimes thickened at the base.

Thorns grow in angled pairs at the nodes, more prevalent on young trees. The straight thorns are white, sometimes pinkish with brown tips.

The yellow spherical flowers appear early in spring. The species that used to be part of the older genus, Acacia, belongs in Vachellia with other thorn trees bearing ball-shaped flowers.

The fruit pods borne in small bunches are small, fairly straight and slightly constricted between the seeds. The pods are pale brown, thin and papery. Pods are indehiscent, each carrying up to nine seeds. The seed is flat and brown or olive green, darker in the centre, with a fairly long areole (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Carr, 1976).