36 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



48035 to 48075 — Continued. 



is often superior in quality to that of the black wattle, but less 

 in quantity, as the tree is smaller, reaching its maximum height 

 at 30 feet. It exudes an abundance of gum, useful in cotton print- 

 ing. Perfume is made from the flowers, and an aqueous infusion 

 of the bark is used to preserve ropes, nets, and fishing lines. The 

 wood is pale and easily worked and used for staves, tool handles, 

 etc. The plant is useful as a sand binder. (Adapted from Maiden, 

 Useful Native Plants of Australia, p. 364, and Mueller, Select 

 Extra-Tropical Plants, p. 12.) 

 48059. "A pendulous variety of the foregoing." Goffart. 

 48060 and 48061. Acacia biceana Henslow. Mimosacese. 



48060. A Tasmanian shrub, in general appearance much like Aca<:ia 

 verticillata, 3 to 4 feet high, with elongated and gracefully droop- 

 ing branches. The surface of the dark-green awl-shaped leaves is 

 covered with minute dots. The pale citron-colored flowers, on 

 yellow peduncles and bearing many long exserted stamens, are in 

 fluffy globular heads. The spikes are well down the stem from the 

 leafy tip, and glimpses of the brown stalk between the daintily 

 poised clusters remind one of Japanese art. (Adapted from 

 Maund's Botanist, vol. 3, pi. 135.) 



48061. '"A slightly spiny variety of the foregoing." (Goffart.) 



48062. Acacia bosteli,ifera Benth. Mimosacese. 



A tall shrub or small tree from Western Australia, with graceful gla- 

 brous branches. The thick, linear-lanceolate phyllodia are 2 to 5 inches 

 long. The few flower heads are in short racemes. (Adapted from 

 Hooker, London Journal of Botany, vol. 1, p. 356.) 



48063. Acacia scokpioides (L.) W. F. Wight. Mimosacese. 

 (A. arabica Willd.) 



A pubescent shrub with yellow flowei's. which produces the white trans- 

 parent gum arable called gum thus. This tree yields an abundance of 

 transparent gum, " nupe," and a good soluble adhesive gum, " mozam- 

 bique." The wood is strong and durable and makes excellent knees and 

 crooked timber in shipbuilding. In India it is used for wheels, agricul- 

 tural implements, tool handles, railway sleepers, and fuel. A decoction 

 of the bark is used as a substitute for soap. The pods are used for tan- 

 ning in North Nigeria and for dyeing clothes a dingy yellow in Nubia 

 and Egypt. Pods from North Nigeria have been found to yield when 

 used for tanning a pale fawn-colored, but rather soft leather, worth 

 about £6 per ton in England. The pods have been found to coagulate 

 rubber latex and are also used for making ink. The leaves and green 

 pods are given as fodder to goats, sheep, cows, and camels ; and the tender 

 young pods are sometimes eaten as a vegetable. In India the bark is 

 of greater importance for tanning purposes, and the pods are used almost 

 exclusively to remove the lime from skins and hides before tanning them. 

 The trees come to maturity in about three years, though if grown for 

 the bark they are considered at their best when from 4 to 6 years old. 

 In order to attain the best results for tanning bark and fuel it is recom- 

 mended, for financial reasons, that the trees be uprooted and the planta- 

 tions renewed every 6 to 10 years. If grown for timber, from 20 to 40 



