Gum arabic, also known as
acacia gum,
chaar gund,
char goond, or
meska, is a
natural gum made of the hardened
sap of various species of the
acacia tree. Originally, gum arabic was collected from
Acacia nilotica which was called as the "Gum arabic tree"; in the present day, gum arabic is predominantly collected from two related species, namely
Senegalia (Acacia) senegal and
Vachellia (Acacia) seyal. Producers harvest the gum commercially from wild trees, mostly in Sudan (80%) and throughout the
Sahel, from
Senegal to
Somalia—though it is historically cultivated in
Arabia and
West Asia.