Bee Wattle
Vachellia sphaerocephala
Found in disturbed uplands, also cultivated. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 2 Florida counties.
Who uses this plant?
17CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Vachellia
- Amyelois transitellaNavel Orangeworm
- Cyclargus ammonNickerbean Blue, Miami Blue
- Cyclophora nanariaDwarf Tawny Wave
- Ithome concolorellaKiawe Flower Moth
- Leptotes cassiusCassius Blue, Tropical Striped Blue
- Mesophleps adustipennisSoybean Webworm Moth
- Ministrymon aziaGray Ministreak, Azia Hairstreak, Light-Banded Hairstreak
- Oiketicus abbotiiAbbot's Bagworm Moth
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Polyhymno luteostrigellaPolyhymno Moth
Show all 17
- Psamatodes abydataDot-Lined Angle
- Rudenia leguminanaBlack-Tipped Rudenia Moth
- Apotoforma rotundipennis
- Cydia largo
- Isogona scindens
- Megalorhipida leucodactylus
- Melipotis famelica
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
3BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Vachellia
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
- Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
- Zenaida asiaticaWhite-winged Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | Not available |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications