A group of Yellow-barked Acacia trees, Vachellia xanthophloea syn. Acacia xanthophloea, in front of Lake Nakuru, with a pink line of Lesser Flamingoes in the background. Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya, East Africa.
Yellow-barked Acacias were commonly known as Fever Trees. Before mosquitoes were discovered to transmit Malaria, it was noticed that cases of the illness increased in the vicinity of Yellow-barked Acacias. People thought that there must be a sort of miasma or gas let off by the tree which caused the illness. In fact, as the tree grows in or near swamps, rivers or lakes they are found in the same vicinity as malarial (anopheles) mosquitoes.
The tree provides food and shelter for many species of animals, birds and insects, as well as having several uses in domestic planting, both decorative and functional, e.g. controlling soil erosion next to dams or streams.
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