Acacia sensu lato es un género de arbustos y árboles pertenecientes a la familia Fabaceae, aunque también se conoce con el nombre de «acacia» a muchos árboles leguminosos de otros géneros (las llamadas «falsas acacias», tales como Robinia pseudoacacia,Gleditsia triacanthos o la Sophora japonica). Existen unas 1400 especies aceptadas, de las más de 3000 descritas en el mundo. Unas 970 pertenecen al género Acacia stricto sensu, de las cuales 950 proceden de Australia.

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Acacia (/əˈkeɪʃə/ or /əˈkeɪsiə/) is a monophyletic genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or shittah trees. The genus name is derived via Latin from ancient Greek ακακία (akakia). It was the name used by Theophrastus and Dioscorides to denote thorn trees, the word root being ἀκίς (akis) or ἀκή (akḗ), meaning "thorn" and "point" respectively. Before discovery of the New World, Europeans in the Mediterranean region were familiar with several species of Acacia, which they knew as sources of medicine, and had names for them that they inherited from the Greeks and Romans. This genus is now known as Vachellia. The wide-ranging genus occurs in a variety of open, tropical to subtropical habitats, and is locally dominant. In parts of Africa, Acacias are shaped progressively by grazing animals of increasing size and height, such as gazelle, gerenuk and giraffe. The genus in Africa has thus developed thorns in defence against such herbivory.

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