Vachellia xanthophloea (Benth.) Banfi & Galasso
Fever Tree, Fever-tree Acacia, Fevertree Acacia, Fevertree Thorn
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Vachellia xanthophloea is a tree in the family Fabaceae, commonly known in English as the fever tree. This species of Vachellia is native to eastern and southern Africa. It has also become a landscape tree in other warm climates, outside of its natural range.
Text from Wikipedia, “Vachellia xanthophloea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Vachellia
Vachellia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus Acacia until 2009. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Vachellia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Acacia songwensis Harms; Acacia xanthophloea Benth.; Vachellia xanthophloea (Benth.) P.J.H.Hurter.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (497 mm of 693 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.4 °C against a yearly mean of 21.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 693 mm a year, wettest January at 110 mm, driest July at 11 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
693 mm a year at the habitat, 497 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 110 mm, driest July at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 494 mm to 1096 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 10.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 10.5 °C, the absolute minimum 8.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 12.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 7.0 °C to 15.5 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 29 / 25–32 | 29 / 25–31 | 28 / 25–31 | 27 / 23–29 | 25 / 22–27 | 23 / 20–26 | 23 / 20–25 | 25 / 21–27 | 26 / 23–30 | 27 / 23–31 | 27 / 23–32 | 28 / 24–32 |
| Night °C | 21 / 13–23 | 21 / 13–23 | 20 / 14–22 | 18 / 13–20 | 15 / 10–18 | 13 / 7–16 | 12 / 7–16 | 13 / 9–16 | 16 / 11–18 | 17 / 13–20 | 19 / 13–21 | 20 / 13–22 |
| Rain mm | 110 / 53–171 | 100 / 40–160 | 90 / 53–137 | 49 / 24–184 | 28 / 11–112 | 16 / 5–46 | 11 / 3–39 | 15 / 4–45 | 21 / 8–66 | 56 / 24–105 | 96 / 64–131 | 101 / 72–157 |
| DLI | 39 / 37–42 | 37 / 35–43 | 34 / 31–41 | 31 / 27–37 | 27 / 23–36 | 24 / 21–34 | 25 / 22–33 | 29 / 25–36 | 35 / 30–41 | 36 / 31–42 | 36 / 34–42 | 38 / 36–41 |
| RH % | 59 / 55–64 | 59 / 54–64 | 59 / 55–64 | 60 / 54–64 | 58 / 52–62 | 56 / 52–60 | 56 / 51–59 | 55 / 49–59 | 55 / 48–61 | 56 / 51–62 | 59 / 54–64 | 60 / 55–64 |
Each figure is the median across the 552 grid cells holding the 1027 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1825:4337 (-1.275, 36.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 10.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 552 distinct grid cells holding the 1027 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1825:4337 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.50_36.875, lapse-corrected -21 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1621 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) William Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Karen Eichholz, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Jay Pruett, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Judy Gallagher, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Vachellia xanthophloea, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Commiphora neglecta Green Corkwood
Cyphostemma barbosae Vitaceae
Ceropegia unicornis Apocynaceae
Cyphostemma schlechteri Vitaceae
Ceropegia paradoxa Apocynaceae
Pachypodium saundersii Kudu LilyOther Vachellia 3 in the reference
History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 29 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








