VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Acacia greggii | Catclaw Acacia 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Catclaw acacia wood is very strong.  It is used locally for small
household items, saddle frames, and occasionally as firewood [30,60].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Livestock: Catclaw acacia is a poor forage for livestock.  It may be
browsed in the early spring when twigs are green but is otherwise seldom
eaten [24].

Wildlife browse: Catclaw acacia is a preferred mule deer forage [50,51].
Seasonal consumption of catclaw acacia by mule deer near Tuscon, Arizona
has been reported as follows [51]:

        Spring = 17.9 percent of diet (leaves)
        Summer =  1.9 percent of diet (leaves and fruit)
        Autumn = 11.2 percent of diet (leaves)
        Winter =  3.9 percent of diet (leaves)

White-tailed deer eat small amounts of catclaw acacia browse [1,37].
Jackrabbits and cottontails regularly eat the leaves, bark, and twigs
[20,61].  White-throated woodrats eat the leaves [20].

Seed and fruit:  Catclaw acacia seeds are important in the diet of
numerous birds.  When available, seeds may comprise 25 to 50 percent of
the scaled quail's diet in southwestern Texas [36].  Gambel's quail and
white-winged doves also eat large amounts of the seeds [20].  Seeds and
pods are eaten by ground squirrels and woodrats [20,36].  Collared
peccaries eat large amounts of the freshly ripened fruit [13].  In
southern Arizona, catclaw acacia fruits made up 2 percent of the
white-tailed deer's summer diet, and 14 percent of the mule deer's
summer diet [37].  When the highly palatable velvet mesquite (Prosopis
velutina) fruits are abundant, mule deer eat less catclaw acacia fruit
[51].

Plants infested with mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum) often attract
frugivorous birds because mistletoe produces a large fruit crop.  A
study in southern Nevada found that 67 percent of all catclaw acacia
plants at the study area were infected with mistletoe [4].  


PALATABILITY : 
The palatability of catclaw acacia browse for livestock is poor.  The
fruits are highly palatable to big game animals such as deer and
peccaries.

The palatability of catclaw acacia for livestock and wildlife species in
Arizona and Texas is rated as follows [8,25,37,51]:

                              AZ      TX

Cattle                       poor    poor
Sheep                        ----    poor
Pronghorn                    ----    fair
Mule deer (browse)           good    ----
          (fruit)            good    ----
White-tailed deer (browse)   fair    ----
                  (fruit)    fair    ----
Small mammals                fair    ----
Upland game birds (fruit)    good    good


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Catclaw acacia browse is a moderately good source of protein for hooved
browsers [26,31,37,48].  Fruits provide a good source of phosphorus
during summer when other forages are deficient in this element [37].

Nutritional composition of leaves, flowers, and new growth of catclaw
acacia plants from southern Arizona is presented below [31]:

            % dry matter  % protein  % lignin  % ash  % cellulose

Jan-Feb        52.07        13.19      10.51    5.78      27.02
Mar-April      45.21        12.29       9.67    5.98      32.16
May-June       47.12        13.81      10.42    6.43      27.93
July-Aug       59.32        11.29       9.75    9.3       36.63
Sept-Oct       51.9         14.43      10.25    5.98      32.45
Nov-Dec        47.55        13.45      11.48    5.55      32.64

Nutritional information for catclaw acacia leaves and twigs from
southwestern Texas plants is presented below [26]:

                  % water  % ash  % cell wall  % phos  % protein  % DOM

leaves (4/13)       69       4       ----       .41        30       83
leaves (5/24)       61       4        25        .27        21       78
leaves&twigs (6/28) 50       5        36        .13        19       62
leaves (7/27)       48       5        33        .15        17       62

Nutritional composition of catclaw acacia seeds from southwestern Texas
is presented below [16]:

  % crude protein   % P    % Ca    % Mg    % K    % Na 

       20.7         .35    .50     .24     1.24   .02


COVER VALUE : 
Songbirds nest within the branches of catclaw acacia [2,11].  Catclaw
acacia sometimes forms thickets which provide hiding places for numerous
small- to medium-sized mammals [60].  Quail use the plants for roosts
[58].  Plants provide shade for domestic and wild animals.


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Catclaw acacia has shown varying success when transplanted onto
disturbed sites.  Near Globe, Arizona, survival of 90-day-old
nursery-grown seedlings transplanted onto asbestos mill waste tailings
capped with 2 feet (0.6 m) of topsoil was 100 percent after 3 years
[45].  Conversely, when catclaw acacia seedlings were transplanted onto
either copper mine tailings or overburden near Tucson, Arizona, they
sufferred 100 percent mortality within 2 years [43].

Commercial catclaw acacia seed is not available.  In California, seed
collected in the field exhibited good germination without any special
treatment and germinated readily in fall or spring [15].  Seedlings
should be grown in tall containers because they rapidly develop a deep
root system.  Nursery grown seedlings attained a height of 4 to 15
inches (10-38 cm) in 16 months [15].  Seed collection methods have been
detailed [63].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Catclaw acacia flowers provide an important source of nectar for honey
bees [30].  This plant is used for low maintenance landscaping [52].
Native peoples ground the beans into a flour to make mush, breads, and
cakes [60].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Catclaw acacia is an invader of semidesert grasslands and has increased
in density on grazing lands.  It is considered a range pest because it
reduces forage for livestock and makes moving and handling cattle more
difficult.  Numerous herbicides are used for brush control in the
Southwest.  In general, catclaw acacia is moderately resistant to
phenoxy herbicides and refoliates or resprouts from the base [23].  In
southwestern Texas, combinations of picloram and dicambia severely
defoliated catclaw acacia plants, but most resprouted within 30 months
[28].  Its susceptibility to numerous herbicides has been summarized
[5].  Mechanical brush control measures have also been described
[39,57].

Related categories for Species: Acacia greggii | Catclaw Acacia