Welcome shade

During our trip to Provence we stayed on several campsites in different areas, each of which was shaded by a variety of trees. On the banks of the river Ardeche we had Acacia trees overhead and I loved the patterns made by the overlapping leaves.

Acacia 'karroo' sketch - Maree

Half the interest of a garden is in the constant exercise of the imagination.
(Mrs. C. W. Earle)

EberhardFaber 2½ HB Pencil sketch with colour wash on Daler-Rowney Acid-free Heavy Weight 220gsm (135lbs) sketching paper - 6" x 8" - sketched in my garden, Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

My Acacia 'karroo' trees are dressed in their full green summer finery and what fascinates me is that, as soon as the end of the day nears, the fine, feathery bi-pinnate leaves start closing, folding together until the tiny leaves are tightly scrunched together, opening again early morning, as if to welcome another summer's day with open arms - wonderful!

The thorns are still small so early in the season, but grow to real whoppers towards the end of summer and can inflict really painful stabs!

Also known as sweet thorn, Karroo thorn, mimosa thorn, cockspur thorn, Cape gum (English); soetdoring, doorn boom (Afrikaans).

Acacia in spring - Alissa Duke

Acacia oxycedrus or Spike Wattle

I must admit that I had never seen one of these before (perhaps I was not looking very hard) . At first I thought it was a white callistemon , but a quick search corrected me. This acacia is a prickly, dense shrub up to 3 meters. The flowers are in cream spikes which occur in winter and spring. It is found in Australia in SA, Vic., NSW. This is from a local inner city Sydney area of land which , over the last few years, has been cleared of introduced species and weeds, and replanted with indigenous plant by our Landcare group, http://www.pyrmontultimolandcare.org.au/





I picked this from a shrub and put it in a glass of water at home. I sketched a bit on Sunday night and returned to it on Monday night to discover the flower spikes were beginning to blossum. This is truly a work in progress.

Acacia 'karroo' - Maree Clarkson

Acacia 'karroo' in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book

This is one of South Africa's most beautiful and useful trees. It is integrally part of our country's history having been used for everything from raft-making to sewing needles and fencing for the houses of the royal Zulu women. The thorns were even used by early naturalists to pin the insects they collected! It is very widespread throughout southern Africa and there are different forms in some places, which can be confusing. Acacia karroo may be found from the Western Cape through to Zambia and Angola. In tropical Africa it is replaced by Acacia seyal. The name Acacia is derived from Greek "akis" a point or barb. Karroo is one of the old spellings of karoo which cannot be corrected because of the laws governing botanical nomenclature (giving of names).

The sweet thorn makes a beautiful garden specimen. The bright yellow flowers look very striking against the dark green foliage. The rough, dark brown bark is also most attractive. The flowers are sweetly scented and are renowned for attracting insects which are essential to any bird garden. Birds also like to make nests in thorn trees as the thorns offer them some protection from predators. Caterpillars of 10 species of butterflies are dependant on the tree for survival. These include, the club-tailed charaxes (Charaxes zoolina zoolina) and the topaz-spotted blue (Azanus jesous). In cold and dry areas like where I live, the tree is deciduous.


Regions where the Acacia 'karroo' can be found - I can be found approx. where the red dot is. (Click on map to enlarge)

To read more and see pics of the Acacia Karroo, go to Art & Creativity