Vachellia erioloba
Species of tree native to southern Africa
Vachellia erioloba is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. This African tree is sometimes referred to by the common names camel thorn, giraffe thorn, mokala tree, or kameeldoring in Afrikaans. The type specimen of Acacia giraffae, proved on closer examination to be a hybrid of V. haematoxylon and the species which would later become known as V. erioloba. The name V. erioloba was therefore proposed for the vast numbers of camel thorn which are not hybrids. Its preferred habitat is the deep dry sandy soils in parts of South Africa, Botswana, the western areas of Zimbabwe and Namibia. It is also native to Angola, south-west Mozambique, Zambia and Eswatini. The tree was first described by Ernst Heinrich Friedrich Meyer and Johann Franz Drège in 1836. The camel thorn is a protected tree in South Africa.