Acacia

Acacia is a kind of shrubs and trees of Gondwanian origin belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the Pea Family Fabaceae, first described from Africa by Linnaeus in 1773.
There are approximately 1300 species worldwide: about 950 of them being native to Australia, while the remainder are increase around the dry tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, including Africa, southern Asia, and the Americas. The genus Acacia though is not monophyletic. This has led to the breaking up of this genus in 5 new genera. This has been discussed in List of Acacia species.
The northernmost species is Acacia greggii (Catclaw Acacia), reaching 37°10' N in southern Utah in the United States; the southernmost are Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle), Acacia longifolia (Coast Wattle or Sydney Golden Wattle), Acacia mearnsii (Black Wattle), and Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood), reaching 43°30' S in Tasmania, Australia, while Acacia caven (Espinillo Negro) reaches nearly as far south in northeastern Chubut Province, Argentina. Australian species are typically called wattles, while African and American species tend to be known as acacias.