Senegalia wrightii (Benth.) Britton & Rose
Texas cat's-claw; Tree cat's-claw; Wright Acacia; Wright catclaw





24 photographs › At a glance
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May, shaded
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep, shaded
- Oct, shaded
- Nov
- Dec
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 (413 mm of 578 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.9 °C against a yearly mean of 22.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.
Rain
578 mm in the median year at the habitat, 413 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 99 mm, driest months (2 at 23 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 445 mm to 750 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 605 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 578 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 43 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 45).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 1.6 °C, the absolute minimum -7.9 °C, 89 frost nights in 44 years, 2.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 8.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 4.3 °C to 12.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 34.6 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 58% 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 -55 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
Mean daily high from 20 °C in Jan to 35 °C in Jul and Aug; mean nightly low from 9 °C in Jan and Dec to 24 °C in Jul and Aug. The cold quarter, Nov to Jan, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 2 months in a row that tie for it. 578 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 166 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -7.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 40.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 20 / 16–23 | 23 / 18–25 | 26 / 22–29 | 30 / 26–32 | 32 / 29–34 | 34 / 31–36 | 35 / 31–36 | 35 / 31–36 | 31 / 29–33 | 28 / 25–30 | 24 / 20–27 | 21 / 16–23 |
| Night °C | 9 / 4–12 | 10 / 6–14 | 13 / 9–17 | 17 / 13–20 | 21 / 18–23 | 23 / 21–25 | 24 / 21–25 | 24 / 21–26 | 22 / 19–24 | 18 / 15–20 | 13 / 9–17 | 9 / 5–13 |
| Rain mm | 28 / 20–34 | 24 / 13–41 | 24 / 13–54 | 43 / 25–59 | 71 / 42–92 | 67 / 45–96 | 59 / 47–80 | 57 / 44–86 | 99 / 64–161 | 60 / 39–80 | 23 / 13–44 | 23 / 13–35 |
| DLI | 21 / 20–25 | 27 / 24–30 | 34 / 30–37 | 39 / 36–42 | 41 / 38–43 | 43 / 42–44 | 43 / 43–45 | 41 / 41–42 | 34 / 34–35 | 29 / 27–31 | 24 / 21–27 | 20 / 18–24 |
| RH % | 56 / 53–59 | 55 / 52–59 | 54 / 50–58 | 54 / 51–58 | 57 / 53–60 | 57 / 54–59 | 55 / 52–59 | 55 / 52–59 | 58 / 54–61 | 57 / 54–60 | 56 / 53–58 | 56 / 53–58 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: EJ Burns, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Tom Field, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Daniel Atha, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF.
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Argemone aenea Golden prickly-poppy Photo: CC BY, Cricket Raspet
Vachellia rigidula Blackbrush acacia Photo: CC BY, Iván Cumpián
Florestina tripteris Sticky florestina Photo: CC BY, Jackie T
Schaefferia cuneifolia Desert yaupon Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. (鍾偉瑋)
Meximalva filipes Texas-fan Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. (鍾偉瑋)Other Senegalia 22 in the reference
Senegalia ataxacantha Flame acacia Photo: CC BY-SA, alanbedfordshaw Senegalia bahiensis Fabaceae
Senegalia berlandieri Berlandier acacia Photo: CC BY, CK2AZ
Senegalia bonariensis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, RAP
Senegalia burkei Black monkey thorn Photo: CC0, author not stated
Senegalia catechu Black cutch Photo: CC BY, harrier
Senegalia galpinii Monkey-thorn Photo: CC BY, Manuel R Popp
Senegalia greggii Catclaw acacia Photo: CC BY, Jo Roberts
Senegalia hereroensis Arid Hook-thorn Photo: CC0, author not statedNames & registers
Also known as Acacia greggii var. wrightii; Acacia wrightii. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 25.50_-100.000, lapse-corrected -55 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Senegalia wrightii (Benth.) Britton & Rose (no item's number)wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22inat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild not askedinat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.






