Dichrostachys cinerea
species of plant
Dichrostachys cinerea, known as sicklebush, bell mimosa, Chinese lantern tree or Kalahari Christmas tree (South Africa), is a legume of the genus Dichrostachys in the family Fabaceae.
Other common names include omubambanjobe (Tooro Uganda), acacia Saint Domingue (French), el marabú (Cuba), " Mpangara" (Shona), Kalahari-Weihnachtsbaum (German of former South West Africa), kéké or mimosa clochette (Réunion), burli (Fula), sinté (Soninke).
Etymology
The generic name Dichrostachys means 'two-colored spike', referring to its two-colored inflorescence, from the Ancient Greek δί- (di-, 'twice'), χροός (khroos, 'color'), and στάχυς (stakhus, 'ear of grain'). The specific name cinerea refers to the greyish hairs of the typical subspecies, from the Latin cinereus ('ashes').
Distribution
It is native to Africa, the Indian subcontinent and North Australia and had been introduced to the Caribbean and parts of Southeast Asia. In Ethiopia, the species is common in the Nechisar National Park.
The tree was brought to the Caribbean in the 19th century. In various countries, such as Namibia, it is considered a dominant species of woody plant encroachment. In Cuba, where it is known as El Marabú or Marabou weed, it has become a serious invasive species problem, occupying about 4,900,000 acres (20,000 km2) of agricultural land. Plans are underway to exploit it as a source of biomass for renewable power generation.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dichrostachys cinerea” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q311432. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dichrostachys cinerea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.