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There are roughly 1300 species worldwide: about 950 of them being native to Australia, while the remainder are spread around the dry tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, including Africa, southern Asia, and the Americas. The northernmost species is Acacia greggii (Catclaw Acacia), reaching 37°10' N in southern Utah in the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in; the southernmost are Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle), Acacia longifolia (Coast Wattle or Sydney Golden Wattle), Acacia mearnsii (Green Wattle), and Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood), reaching 43°30' S in TasmaniaTasmania State flag ( In detail) Coat of Arms ( Full size) Capital Hobart Governor William Cox (Acting Governor) Premier Paul Lennon Area — Land — Marine — Total 68 401 km² 22 357 km² 90 758 km² Population(Sep 2003) Density 478 400 6. 92/km² Time zone UTC, Australia, while Acacia caven (Espinillo Negro) reaches nearly as far south in northeastern Chubut ProvinceChubut Province is a province in the southern part of Argentina. It was settled by Welsh speaking Britons during the 19th century. The largest city is Comodoro Rivadavia, with 125,000 inhabitants at the province´s south. The capital is located in northern, ArgentinaArgentina is a Spanish-speaking country in southern South America, situated between the Andes in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast and Chile in th. Australian species are usually called wattleWattle has several meanings. In engineering terms, originally wattle referred collectively to the flexible rods, branches or twigs from various plants woven together to make fences, walls and roofs (see wattle-and-daub). In civil engineering terminology ts, while African and American species tend to be known as acacias.

The leaves of acacias are compound pinnate in general. In some species, however, more especially in the Australian and Pacific islands species, the leaflets are suppressed, and the leaf-stalks (petioles) become vertically flattened, and serve the purpose of leaves; these are known as phyllodes. The vertical orientation of the phyllodes protects them from intense sunlight, as with their edges towards the sky and earth they do not intercept light so fully as horizontally placed leaves.

The small flowerA flower is the reproductive organ of those plants classified as angiosperms ( flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). The function of a flower is to produce seeds through sexual reproduction''. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, ands have five very small petals, almost hidden by the long stamens, and are arranged in dense rounded or elongated clusters; they are yellow in most species, whitish in some.

The plants often bear spines, especially those growing in arid regions. These sometimes represent branches which have become short, hard and pungent, or sometimes leaf-stipules. Acacia armata is the Kangaroo-thorn of Australia, Acacia giraffae, the Camelthorn of Africa. In the Central American Acacia sphaerocephala (Bullthorn Acacia) and Acacia spadicigera, the large thorn-like stipules are hollow and afford shelter for antFormicomorph subfamilies Aneuretinae Dolichoderinae Formicinae e. Formica Myrmeciomorph subfamilies Myrmeciinae eg. Myrmecia Pseudomyrmecinae Dorylomorph subfamilies Cerapachyinae Ecitoninae Leptanilloidinae Aenictinae Dorylinae Aenictogitoninae Leptanills, which feed on a secretion of honey on the leaf-stalk and curious food-bodies at the tips of the leaflets; in return they protect the plant against leaf-eating insects.

The Acacia is also one of the most powerful symbols in freemasonry, used as a symbol for the eternal soul and purity of the soul.