Vachellia robusta subs. robusta leaves

The paripinnate, twice compound leaves of Vachellia robusta subsp. robusta, the ankle thorn, are borne on woody cushions clustered densely around the stems in bottle-brush fashion.

From two to seven pairs of pinnae may be borne, usually only three. The leaflets on each pinna range from 10 to 27 pairs. The dark green leaflets are obliquely elliptic, broadly rounded. Leaflets are paler on their lower surfaces and about hairless as is the leaf rachis, the central axis or "midrib" that keeps it all together.

When this deciduous tree loses its leaves in winter, the dark leaf cushions still allow identification of the bare tree. The young stems are here still smooth and reddish brown. The upper branchlets are comparatively thick up to their tips (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993; Grant and Thomas, 2001).