Vachellia baessleri is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is a tree with yellow flowers, and is native to Cuba. The species was described in 2009, and is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.
Taxonomy The species was described by Hugh David Clarke, David Stanley Seigler, and John Edwin Ebinger in 2009.
Distribution Vachellia baessleri is native to the seasonally dry tropical biome of south-central Cuba. It is endemic to Guantánamo and Las Tunas.
It grows at elevations of .
Description Vachellia baessleri is a tree that grows up to high. The bark is brown or grey, and rough.
The leaves are arranged alternately, or clustered on shoots. The leaves are long. The leaf stems are long. Each leaf has one pair of pinnae, and each pinna has three to six leaflets.
The inflorescence is globose or subglobose, densely flowered, and wide. The inflorescence stems are long. The flowers are yellow. The calyx is long, and has five lobes. The corolla is long, and has five lobes. The flowers have twenty to twenty-five stamens.The plant has been observed flowering in April and May.
Vachellia baessleri is similar to Vachellia barahonensis and Vachellia belairioides.
Conservation In 2022, the IUCN assessed Vachellia baessleri as Critically Endangered.
Nomenclature Vachellia baessleri was initaially given the specific epithet baessleria, which was later amended to baessleri. The name honours Manfred Bässler, who was one of the collecters of the type specimen.
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