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Meet the Natives: Sweet Acacia

January 22, 2025
small bright yellow puffy flowers and thorns of the sweet acacia native plant on sanibel sccf native landscapes & garden center

This week, we’re highlighting the sweet acacia (Vachellia farnesiana), a highly salt-tolerant native plant.

This coastal forest shrub grows best in full sun and dry soils, and it can handle occasional flooding with either freshwater or saltwater.

“However, it is prone to root rot if the location stays wet too long,” said SCCF Native Landscapes & Garden Center Customer Relations Associate Sue Ramos. “It will also drop its leaves in long periods of drought.”

The sweet acacia can be grown as a barrier shrub for wildlife, or as a nice specimen tree, Ramos said.

The leaves of the sweet acacia are soft and feathery, and the flowers — which occur most of the year — are very fragrant puff balls of bright yellow.

“This fragrance is where the common name was derived, and the flowers are often used in making perfume,” Ramos said.

Gardeners and landscapers should note that this plant is not just sweet smells and feathery leaves — it has a thorny side. The sweet acacia is covered in light gray spines that occur in pairs at the base of the leaves.  

The sweet acacia can be used as a buffer plant or as a specimen tree (growing up to 15 or 20 feet tall).

“Either way, you will be rewarded with sweet smells and bright foliage,” Ramos said.

Purchase or learn more about sweet acacia and other native South Florida plants at SCCF’s Native Landscapes & Garden Center, open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at 1300 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel, FL.

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