Acacia laeta, Gay Acacia,
Hebrew: שיטה רעננה, Arabic: السنط السعيد

Scientific name:  Acacia laeta R. Br. ex Benth
Synonym name:  Senegalia laeta (R. Br. ex Benth.) Seigler & Ebinger
English name:  Gay Acacia
Hebrew/שם עברי:  שיטה רעננה
Arabic/الاسم العربي:  السنط السعيد
Español:  Acacia laeta
Family, משפחה:  Mimosaceae, Mimosa Family, שיטיים

Israel Wildflowers - פרחי בר בישראל

Life form:  Tree
Spinescence:  Stipules
Leaves:  Bipinnate with 3-5 pairs of fairly large pinnate leaflets and 2-5 pairs of pinnae, the leaflets being clearly separate from each other and asymetric. Thorns in pairs of recurved axillary prickles, with sometimes a third prickle recurved forward, when the latter is missing it is replaced by a leaf.
Flowers:  Flowers are very fragrant and white-cream in colour, set out in 3-8 cm long spikes, pedunculate and disposed in triplets
Fruits:  Fruit a pale brown leathery pod
Flowering Period:  March, April
Habitat:  Desert, thermophilous (heat-loving)
Distribution:  Deserts and extreme deserts, Dead Sea Valley
Chorotype:  Sudani
Summer shedding:  Perennating

Acacia laeta, Gay Acacia, שיטה רעננה, Mimosaceae, שיטיים       Aaronsohnia factorovskyi, Faktorowsky's Aaronsonia, אהרונסוניית פקטורי
flower details


Derivation of the botanical name:
Acacia, from the Greek word akis, meaning a point or a barb.
laeta, laetus, "joyful, cheerful, happy."
The hebrew word: שיטה, shittah (Acacia, tree and a wood), borrowed from Arabic sant, سنط, in ancient Egyptian: Sndt, Sntt.
  • The standard author abbreviation R. Br. is used to indicate Robert Brown (1773 – 1858) , a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Benth. is used to indicate George Bentham (1800–1884), an English botanist.

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