Huizache (Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. or Vachellia farnesiana (L.) Wight & Arn.) is a tropical leguminous shrub native of Central and South America. It is fast-growing, showy, thorny, evergreen or almost evergreen. Huizache is a multipurpose species: it produces gum, its fragrant flowers are used to make perfumes and it can be cut to make forage for small ruminants. The shrub also hosts the lac insect and is attractive to bees.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid, very alkaline and saline soils.
Whilst this species is not very tolerant of cold, being damaged by even a few degrees of frost, the variety A. farnesiana cavenia seems to be more resistant to both drought and frost[
