M. Thulin, A.S. Hassan, & B.T. Styles (1993) Acacia 1:368-384
Plants shrubs or trees, 1-6 m tall, obconical, branching from the base or with a distinct trunk; young branchlets grey to brown, shortly puberulent. Stipular spines all short, hooked, up to 6 mm long. Leaves with 1-3 pairs of pinnae; leaflets 5-11 pairs per pinna, 2-4.5 mm long, 0.5-1.25 mm wide. Inflorescences heads. Flowers whitish; involucels babasal or on lowest third of pedunckes. Pods straight, dehiscent, 3-6.5(-8.8) cm long, 0.6-1.2 cm wide, brown or deep purplish, finely longitudinally veined, from more or less puberulent to glabrous or nearly so; seeds mostly elliptic, compressed, 5-7.5 cm long, 4-5 mm wide, areoles 4-4.5 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide.
Vachellia reficiens has two subspecies.
Vachellia reficiens subsp. misera grows in acacia-Commiphora bushland and dry scrub at 50-1300 m elevation. It is known from all regions of Somaliland and Somalia in the Flora of Somalia and from Ethiopia, Sudan, Northern Uganda and Kenya.
Vachellia reficiens subsp. reficiens which grows in Angola and Namibia.