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.