Vachellia rorudiana (Galápagos acacia)

Plants: Shrubs or trees up to 26′ (8 m) tall. Twigs are dark purplish brown, sometimes pubescent. Stipular spines are purplish to yellowish brown, aging to light gray. They are symmetrical, terete, straight, 1¾″ long ⨉ 1/16″ around (4.5 cm ⨉ 2.5 mm), and stiff enough to do real damage.

Leaves: Alternate, ⅛–1¾″ (5–45 mm) long with two to twelve pinna pairs per leaf. Sometimes leaves are up to 7″ (17 cm) long, with 35 pinna pairs. Each pinna is ¼–⅞″ (7–25 mm) long.

Flowers: Globose, yellow-orange, densely flowered ball is ⅛–⅜″ (6–10 mm) in diameter occur singly or in groups of two or three. Flowerheads, which resemble pompoms, are comprised of many tiny flowers.

Fruits: Legumes are straight light brown pods that age to dark purplish brown, flattish in cross-section, 2½–7 ⨉ ⅜–⅝″ (7–17 ⨉ 1–1.7 cm) in size. Pods contain seeds that are light to dark brown, ovoid, slightly flattened, smooth, and ⅛–¼ ⨉ ⅛–3/16″ (5.7–7.5 ⨉ 4.5–6 mm).

Habitats: Disturbed sites and open scrub forests on scanty soil and bare lava rock in the Arid and Transition Zones of the Galápagos Islands.

4/5/2025 · Fausto Llerena Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre at Charles Darwin Research Station, Santa Cruz, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador · By Heather Kent

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Fabales	Legumes (pea and bean families)
Family	Fabaceae	Legume family (peas and beans)
Genus	Vachellia	Named after the Rev. George Harvey Vachell (1798-1839), chaplain to the British East India Company in Macao from 1825-1836 and a plant collector in China
Species	rorudiana	For Borghild Rorud, a Norwegian scientist from the University of Oslo who visited Santa Cruz in the Galápagos in 1926

About plant names...