Addisonia 



(Plate 193) 

 ACACIA SCAPULIFORMIS l»»<pary 



NSW VOHK 



Knife-shaped Acacia 8( n a a ic al 



Native of New South Wales 

 Family Mimosa ckae Mimosa Family 



<iAi<i>yN 



Acacia scapuliformis A. Cunn.; G. Don, Gen. Syst. 2: 405. 1832. 

 Acacia cuUriformis A. Cunn.; G. Don, Gen. Syst. 2: 406. 1832. 



This, on account of its odd-shaped phyllodes and bluish grey 

 color, is one of the most striking acacias in cultivation. It is said 

 to flower in March and April, but in the conservatories of the 

 New York Botanical Garden, where specimens are planted out in 

 the central display house of range 2, the blossoms appear in Feb- 

 ruary; the illustration was prepared from one of these. It becomes 

 a rather large shrub which may be kept well-pruned and used as 

 a hedge-plant in localities where the climate permits cultivation 

 in the open. This acacia is well adapted to the cool conservatory, 

 where it may be grown either in pots or planted out. 



The genus Acacia is a large one, containing upward of five 

 hundred species, widely distributed in tropical and the warmer 

 temperate regions. In Australia they are very numerous, those 

 in cultivation here coming mainly from the southern or temperate 

 areas; these will not stand much frost, but are said to survive a 

 temperature as low as 18° to 20° Fahrenheit. 



There are two well-marked groups: in one the leaves are bi- 

 pinnate, the species being widely distributed, some of them Austra- 

 lian ; in the other group the so-called leaves are leaf -like developments 

 of the rachis and petiole, called phyllodes, with the edges placed ver- 

 tically—the species of this kind being confined almost exclusively to 

 Australia and the Pacific islands. 



The temperate species are of easy culture, especially those from 

 Australia, whence are derived the greater part of the kinds com- 

 monly cultivated for ornament. In California a number of species 

 are grown for ornament or for shade trees. Acacias grow very 

 rapidly, reaching their maturity in twenty to thirty years, when 

 they are apt to deteriorate, so for permanent effects other trees 

 should be selected. Some of them make such rapid growth that 

 ^ they become lanky and ungainly; such should be rather severely 

 pruned, thus not only improving their general appearance, but also 



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