116 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. LEGUMINOS. 
the south Pacific,’ in tropical and subtropical America,’ in the West Indies,? Central America, and 
Mexico,‘ and the desert regions adjoining the southern boundary of the United States, where eleven 
or twelve species occur. Three of these are small trees ; the others are large or small shrubs.° 
Acacia is astringent, and many species, especially those of Australia, yield valuable tan-barks.’ 
Gum arabic® is produced by different species of African, Indian, and Australian Acacias, principally by 
Acacia Senegal, Acacia Arabica,” Acacia stenocarpa,” Acacia Seyal,” Acacia horrida,* and the 
Australian .A. pycnantha.“ Catechu or cutch,” an astringent medicine, is obtained from the wood of 
the Indian Acacia Catechu™® and of Acacia Suma." 
and some of the Australian species are large and valuable timber-trees.* Many Acacias bear beautiful 
Acacia yields hard heavy and durable wood, 
graceful foliage and handsome fragrant flowers, and several Australian species are now cultivated in 
the gardens of all semitropical countries and in northern conservatories.” 
The genus was established by Tournefort ” 
and was afterwards adopted by Adanson. 
The generic 
name, from dxaxia, relates to the spines with which the branches are usually armed. 
1 Gray, Bot. Wilkes Explor. Exped. i. 480. — Seemann, Fi. Vit. 
73. — Hillebrand, Fl. Haw. Js. 112. 
2 Bentham, Martius Fl. Brasil. xv. pt. ii. 391. 
3 Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 220. 
* Hemsley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. 1. 352. 
5 Brewer & Watson, Bot. Cal. i. 163. — Coulter, Contrib. U. S. 
Nat. Herb. ii. 99 (Man. Pl. W. Texas). 
6 Of the five great series in which Bentham arranged the species 
of Acacia, the Phyllodinee, with leaves reduced to simple phyllodia, 
are almost exclusively confined to Australia, where Acacia is repre- 
sented by a larger number of species than any other genus of flow- 
ering plants. The other series with bipinnate leaves are cosmopoli- 
tan in the warmer parts of the world, especially in the tropics. 
7 Maiden, Useful Native Plants of Australia, 302. 
8 Fliickiger & Hanbury, Pharmacographia, 206. 
® Willdenow, Spec. iv. 1077. — Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. 340. — 
Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 516 (Rev. Mim.). 
10 Willdenow, J. c. 1058. — Oliver, J. c. 350. — Bentham, J. c. 
506. — Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 293. 
This tree, which is one of the most valuable of the genus, is 
widely distributed in all the Upper Nile region, and extends 
through Afghanistan to the Indian peninsula, where it has also 
been largely cultivated and naturalized except in the humid coast 
regions. The gum, which exudes in large quantities from wounds 
made in the bark, is used in India for native medicines, and by 
dyers and cloth-printers, and is largely exported. The wood is 
tough and durable, and is much employed in the manufacture of 
agricultural implements, for the hubs and fellies of wheels, and in 
boat-building. The bark is used for tanning and dyeing, and in 
India domestic animals are fed on the shoots and the unripe pods. 
Lakh is produced in some Indian provinces in large quantities from 
the small dried branches. (Brandis, Forest Fl. Brit. Ind. 181.) 
1 Richard, Fl. Abyss. i. 238.— Oliver, J. c. 351.— Bentham, 
Ll. c. 612. 
12 Delile, Fl. d’Egypte, 142, t. 52, f. 2.— Oliver, l. c. 351.— Ben- 
tham, J. c. 512. 
18 Willdenow, J. c. 1082.— Harvey & Sonder, Fl. Cap. ii. 281. — 
Bentham, 1. c. 507. 
14 Bentham, Hooker Lond. Jour. Bot. i. 351; Fl. Austral. ii. 365; 
Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 469. 
15 Flickiger & Hanbury, /. c. 213. 
16 Willdenow, J. c. 1079. — Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 
519. — Hooker f. 1. c. 295. 
The wood of Acacia Catechu is exceedingly durable, and is not 
In India it is 
thought to yield the best charcoal, and in some parts of the coun- 
attacked by white ants or injured by the Teredo. 
try is largely used in the manufacture of agricultural implements, 
while in Burmah it is said to be preferred to all other woods for 
house-posts. The bark is astringent and bitter, and is sometimes 
employed in tanning. The most valuable product of this tree, 
however, is catechu. In order to prepare this the heartwood is 
cut into chips which are boiled in water many times changed until 
it is reduced to a thick black paste, which when dry is the eutch 
of commerce. This is consumed in the East with the betel-leaf, is 
exported to Europe for dyeing and tanning, and is also used medi- 
cinally. (Brandis, /. c. 187.) 
17 Brandis, J. c. 187. — Bentham, 1. c. 519. 
18 Maiden, J. c. 349. 
Acacia Melanoxylon (Aiton, Hort. Kew. ed. 2, v. 462. — Bentham, 
Fl. Austral. ii. 388 ; Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 481), the Australian 
Black-wood, a large tree of extratropical and semitropical eastern 
Australia, is perhaps the most valuable of the genus as a timber- 
tree, producing hard and close-grained very dark-colored durable 
wood capable of receiving a fine polish. It is much used in cabinet- 
making, in boat-building, for gun-stocks, picture-frames, piano- 
Acacia Mel- 
anoxylon has been extensively cultivated in Madras and other parts 
fortes, and oil-casks, and in all sorts of construction. 
of India, although it has not maintained its Australian reputation 
there as a timber-tree. (Maiden, J. c.) 
19 Nicholson, Dict. Gard.— Naudin, Manuel de l’Acclimateur, 
107. 
20 Tournefort, Inst. 605, t. 375. 
