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  • COMMON NAME: Gum arabic tree, babul, thorn mimosa, Egyptian acacia or thorny acacia.
  • ARABIC: قرط - سنط
  • BOTANICAL NAME: Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile
  • SYNONYMS: mimosa nilotica L., mimosa arabica Lam., Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd.
  • FAMILY: FABACEAE
  • KIND: Native
  • EMIRATE: Abu-Dhabi , Dubai , Ras-Al-Khaimah , Fujairah
  • CATEGORIES: Medicinal (M) Fodder (F) Landscape (L) Apiculture (A) Other Uses (O)
  • GROWTH FORMS: Tree
  • HABITATS: Wadi Gulley Sandy
  • TYPES: Perennial
  • REMARKS: Plants used by honeybees for nectar collection for honey production.
Flora of the United Arab Emirates V1 & 2, Fawzi M.Karim, Nael M.Fawzi; reviewed by Fatima Al-Ansary. Al-Ain: United Arab Emirates University, 2007. https://www.floraofqatar.com/acacia_nilotica.htm V.V. Byalt, V.M. Korshunov, M.V. Korshunov. Cadaster of the Flora of Fujairah Emirate (United Arab Emirates). Al Fujairah 2021. Karim FM and Dakheel AG. Salt-tolerant plants of the United Arab Emirates. 2006. International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE. M.V.D jongbloed, G.R. Fuelner, B. Boer, A.R. Western. the comprehensive guide to the wild flowers of the United Arab Emirates. Environmental research and wildlife Development agency, Abu Dhabi, 2003.
Highly salt tolerant. Highly grazable. Applied to soothe burns; leaves are pounded into a paste and used a poultice on boils and swellings or applied around boils to draw out the pus. Honey nectar plants. used commercially as stabilizer in the food industry. Ornamental plant. poultice of leaves used to treat joint pains. Resin mixed with egg-white applied to eyes to treat cataract. Leaves eaten to treat diarrhoea. Seeds soaked in water or milk drunk to treat diabetes. Smoke from burning pods inhaled for colds.

Small tree, 2-10 meter high, variable in shape, twigs more or less glabrous; bark on trunk rough, gray or brown to purplish-black. Stipules spinescent, 1-6 cm long, divergent. Leaf often with 1-2 petiolar glands; pinnae in pairs, leaflets numerous, 7-30 pairs. Flowers in globular, 6-10 mm in diameter, heads, bright yellow. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 5-dentate, 1-2 mm long. Corolla 2-3.5 mm long. Pod very variable in form, indehiscent, glabrous or downy, up to 15 cm long and 1-2 cm broad, constricted between the seeds and breaking up in pieces. Seeds suborbicular, blackish-brown, compressed, about 7 mm in diameter, areole large. Flowering from September-December.  

Alluvial plains, sandy and gravelly soil. Cultivated in gardens.
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