FABACEAE

Senegalia burkei

Black Monkey-thorn

Trees & Shrubs

Tree

Bark

Thorn on trunk

Leaves and hooked thorns

Flower

Local Context

Common across the estate, but can be overlooked as it’s superficially similar to the abundant Knob Thorn. The finer, more fern-like leaves of the Black Monkey Thorn—which have many tiny leaflets compared to the Knob Thorn’s few large ones—are an easy way to tell them apart.

Identification

Growth: Medium to large tree (up to 27 m tall) with a spreading, rounded, or flattened crown.
Flowers: Yellowish-white or cream (sometimes tinged with pink), arranged in long, slender spikes (up to 9 cm long) that resemble bottle brushes.
Leaves: Feathery and divided into 3–13 pairs of side branches, each carrying many pairs of small leaflets that vary in shape from narrow to egg-shaped.
Texture: The tree is armed with pairs of strong, hooked black thorns (prickles); the flower stalks and young branches are often fuzzy or hairy; leaflets usually have a small tuft of hair at the base underneath.
Fruit: Flat, reddish-brown or purple-brown pods (4–17 cm long) that are straight and split open when ripe to release flat seeds.

Did You Know?

The name Black Monkey-Thorn (or Swartapiesdoring) is a literal description of the tree's appearance and ecology. The Black refers to the dark, often charcoal-coloured hooked thorns that contrast with its bark, while Monkey stems from the animal's fondness for the tree’s protein-rich pods and its use of the thorny canopy as a safe refuge.

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