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Senegalia modesta; photograph Khalid Mahmood, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAKhalid Mahmood, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Senegalia modesta (Wall.) P.J.H.Hurter

Amritsar-gum; Black sally; Blackwood; Phulahi

Fabaceae · Afghanistan, India +3

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Senegalia modesta, photograph Khalid Mahmood, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 2 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.2°C
Record low -1.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
36°C
Jun at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
999mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes February to April and July to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Senegalia modesta (commonly called phulai in Pakistan, phalāhī ਫਲਾਹੀ پھلاہی (Punjabi) in India) is a species of plant commonly found in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. S. modesta is a perennial tree and formerly, it was classified as Acacia modesta. The plant is drought tolerant. S. modesta`s tree grow in medium size (3 to almost 5 meters) deciduous form with rough surfaced, brown or greenish grey bark, leaflets as (3-5 pairs), cream colored inflorescence (in April–May or July–August) in the form of pedunculate spike, pods as stipitate having 3-5 seeds inside.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Senegalia modesta", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Senegalia

Senegalia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the Mimosoid clade. Until 2005, its species were considered members of Acacia. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Senegalia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (734 mm of 998 mm) falls in February to April and July to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.6 °C against a yearly mean of 21.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March and August to October.

Rain

998 mm in the median year at the habitat, 734 mm of it February to April and July to September. Wettest month July at 198 mm, driest month November at 21 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 571 mm to 1,583 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 999 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 998 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.2 °C, the absolute minimum -1.7 °C, 2 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 46.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -2.6 °C to 5.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 35.7 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 47 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -94 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Senegalia modesta through the yearWarmest month June, mean daily high 36 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.4 °C; 998 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost46.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-1.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 20–46RH 47–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 50 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 8–1817 / 9–2122 / 15–2628 / 21–3234 / 27–3736 / 30–3933 / 29–3431 / 27–3330 / 27–3327 / 23–3122 / 18–2518 / 12–20
Night °C3 / -3–66 / -1–810 / 3–1314 / 7–1819 / 12–2323 / 17–2624 / 19–2623 / 19–2521 / 15–2315 / 9–189 / 4–125 / 0–7
Rain mm62 / 26–10686 / 42–144104 / 54–17473 / 34–12547 / 26–7665 / 34–97198 / 82–360189 / 98–33184 / 38–13731 / 17–5121 / 10–3638 / 18–64
DLI21 / 20–2525 / 24–2932 / 31–3641 / 39–4346 / 45–4746 / 44–4737 / 34–4034 / 31–3634 / 33–3530 / 29–3224 / 22–2720 / 18–23
RH %53 / 48–5552 / 49–5553 / 50–5450 / 46–5247 / 44–4948 / 45–5160 / 57–6263 / 59–6557 / 54–5951 / 47–5351 / 46–5351 / 47–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 50 grid cells holding the 57 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1124:5047 (33.775, 72.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 46.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 50 distinct grid cells holding 57 of the 57 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1124:5047 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_72.500, lapse-corrected -94 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 357 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAfghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.691, 73.122 · in the densest population, 52 records (59% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 88 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 57 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 59 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 31 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 88 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Senegalia modesta, photograph 1did not load

Photographs: Khalid Mahmood, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Incarvillea emodi Incarvillea emodi Bignoniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, AveraterTrachyspermum ammi Trachyspermum ammi Ajowan Photo: CC BY-SA, Shivsaurabhkunwar Ceropegia macrantha Apocynaceae Ouret sanguinolenta Ouret sanguinolenta Amaranthaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheng-Te HsuAmorpha georgiana Amorpha georgiana Georgia false indigo Photo: CC0, author not statedElliottia racemosa Elliottia racemosa Georgia-plume Photo: CC BY, Brandon Corder

Other Senegalia 22 in the reference

Senegalia afra Senegalia afra Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Paul venterSenegalia ataxacantha Senegalia ataxacantha Flame acacia Photo: CC BY-SA, alanbedfordshaw Senegalia bahiensis Fabaceae Senegalia berlandieri Senegalia berlandieri Berlandier acacia Photo: CC BY, CK2AZSenegalia bonariensis Senegalia bonariensis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, RAPSenegalia brevispica Senegalia brevispica Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Susan BrownSenegalia burkei Senegalia burkei Black monkey thorn Photo: CC0, author not statedSenegalia catechu Senegalia catechu Black cutch Photo: CC BY, harrierSenegalia galpinii Senegalia galpinii Monkey-thorn Photo: CC BY, Manuel R PoppSenegalia greggii Senegalia greggii Catclaw acacia Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsSenegalia hereroensis Senegalia hereroensis Arid Hook-thorn Photo: CC0, author not statedSenegalia laeta Senegalia laeta Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Marco Schmidt all 23 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Acacia dumosa; Acacia moderta; Acacia modesta; Acacia senegal subsp. modesta; Mimosa dumosa and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Wall.) P.J.H.Hurter
Native to
Afghanistan, India, Nepal +2
Wild records
88 in range · 59 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 3 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.00_72.500, lapse-corrected -94 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 18 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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