¢ — be 
% AACA | 
ae ey ; 
Orricrvat. Acacie gummi, Lond. Acacie Arabice 
gummi, Edin. Gummi Arabicum. Dublin, Acacia — 
_, Gum, or Gum Arabic. © : - 
Cabinet Mat. Med. & Bot. Jeff. Col. Specimen No. 4, 
called best (opt); Nos. 5 and 6, common; No. 7, 
sophisticated No. 8, coloured figure of the plant, - 
-smail series. 
The small tree yielding this drug, is common in nearly 
every part of Africa. The gum exported from Barbary 
to England, is from trees growing in the Alas moun- 
tains, and at Blod-el-jerreede. Stem crooked, bark _ Z 
grey, that of branches tinged with purple ; leaves F 
alternate, bipinnate, composed of several pairs op 
site pinnz, a small gland on the common petiole, be- 
tween the base of each pair, and having numerous 
pairs of narrow, elliptical, smooth leaflets. Capitult 
consisting of hermaphrodite and male flowers, sup- 
ported on slender peduncles (4 or 5 together) from 
the axils of the leaves. Cole Si hc aleped, : 
five-toothed. Corolla five-cleft, segments narrow, — 
yellowish. Filamenis numerous, capillary, anthers 
roundish, germen conical, style slender, stigma simple, 
* Pods three or four inches long, half an inch broad ¢ 
Soars —_ several, flattish, brown. They yield a reddish 
e. 
The gum exudes spontaneously from the bark of the — 
trunk and branches, ina semi-fluid state ; becomes 
hard and transparent by exposure to air. Collected 
in December. According to Jackson, it is a diseased 
‘oduct. He says, the most sickly trees, in the hot- 
test seasons, yield the most; and in these seasons, it is 
gathered in July and August. Little is obtained in 
moist, cool, or mild summers. I cannot acquiesce in, 
this opinion, and account for the facts stated, by in- 
ferring that excessive heat is fayourable to the exces- 
sive generation of the gum, which is a natural and 
ae not a diseased secretion. The elimination of a greatge 
ntity than is consistent with the usual economy 0 
pages ally by heat, naturally takes away some of the | 
nourishing juices of the tree—hence it is sickly. 
Qvatitres. In irregular shaped pieces, hard, brittle, 
semi-transparent: fracture semi-lustrous; neither fu- 
r 
£ 
; neither f 
‘ pid, i 
specific gravity, 1.3161 'to 1. 
Senegal—ma k 
