COMMON NAMES: WRIGHT ACACIA, CATCLAW, CATCLAW ACACIA, WRIGHT’S ACACIA, JOINT-VETCH, UNA DE GATO, HUISACHILLO, TREE CATCLAW, TEXAS CATCLAW, DEVIL’S CRAW

BOTANICAL NAME:    Acacia greggii var. Wrightii

PRONUNCIATION: ah-KAY-shuh GREG-ee-eye WRITE-ee-eye

FAMILY:   Fabaceae (Legume Family)

TYPE:     Deciduous tree

HEIGHT:   15 to 30 feet

SPREAD:   10 to 12 feet

FINAL SPACING: 10 TO 15 feet

NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE:   Catclaw is native to South Texas and the Trans-Pecos and grows in rocky well-drained soils requiring a minimum amount of water. Catclaw has adapted to a variety of soils as far north as Abilene and Dallas.

IDENTIFICATION:    Large shrub or small tree with feathery foliage and fragrant flowers in the spring. Thorny, thicket-forming large shrub or small tree with a spreading irregular or overall form.

FLOWERS AND FRUIT: Off-white to creamy yellow flowers blooming in the spring primarily, cylindrical spikes ¾ to 1 ½ inch long. Fruit starts forming from July and lasts into the winter, legumes 2 to 5 ½ inches long usually curling and contorted. Seed are dark brown and shiny ¼ to 1/3 inch long. Also comes into bloom mid spring or later, usually after heavy rains.

FOLIAGE:  Leaves are compound, 1 to 3 inches long.

BARK:     Young bark is thin, gray to brown, separating into thin, narrow scales on the old trunks. Twigs are armed with short ¼ inch spines.

CULTURE:  Extremely drought tolerant and needs little fertilizer. Can grow in rocky soils but adapts to fairly heavy clay soils as well if well-drained.

PROPAGATION:  From seed, cuttings, and transplanting because seed are covered with a hard seed coat, mechanical or acid scarification is sometimes necessary. Seed will germinate then in 7 to 12 days with proper conditions and warm soil temperatures. Without scarification, germination may take as long as a month. Cuttings can be made from softwood or semi-hardwood taken in late spring or early summer. Due to its taproot transplanting is difficult on all but very small seedlings.

INSIGHT:  Fragrant flowers are fragrant and make a superb honey. Confusion exists between Wright acacia (Acacia wrightii) and Gregg acacia – (Acacia greggii) in that they are extremely similar. The seed pods of Gregg acacia are quite contorted and the leaflets of Wright Acacia is the larger of the two. Shinner

and Maler’s book Flora of North Central Texas says that both plants are Acacia greggi but catclaw is variety A. greggii and wright acacia is variety A.g. wrightii.