154 



LEGUMINOS.E. 



[Acacia. 



reproduction on newly formed sandbanks is sometimes very remarkable. A specimen 

 in the Bengal Forest Museum, from the Mahanadi Forest, shews 24 well-marked rings 

 on a mean radius of 6? inches, or 3'8 rings per inch, which is fast. 



Weight: the confusion between this tree and A. Suma and the fact of this tree 

 having two varieties has caused some uncertainty in the weight. Skinner describes 

 two woods, viz. 



Weight. Value of P. 



No. 10, P. 32. A. Suma (Telia sandra^d.) . . . 771bs. 801 

 No. 11, P. 33. A. Sundra (Nalla sandra, Tel.) . . . 81 915 



The latter is probably our A. Catechu ; the former A . Suma. Cunningham's experi- 

 ments with bars of wood 2' X V X I" from Gwalior gave weight 70 Ibs. P= 779. 

 Brandis, in his Burma List of 1862, gives two varieties 



No. 29, Var. A. 

 No. 30, Var. B. 



Ibs. 

 56 

 70 



both of which are probably A. Catechu, and both here described, the ordinary red- 

 wooded A. Catechu being Var. B. K. Thompson gives 75 Ibs., while the Central 

 Provinces List of 1873 gives 79 Ibs. ; ou rspecimens of Var. B. vary from 48 Ibs. to 64 Ibs., 

 while our specimens of Var. A. give an average of 67 Ibs. The wood seasons well, takes a 

 fine polish and is extremely durable. It is not attacked by white ants or by teredo. 

 It is used for rice pestles, oil and sugarcane crushers, agricultural implements, bows, 

 spear and sword handles and wheelwrights' work. In Burma it is used for house 

 posts, and very largely used as firewood for the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla. 

 In Northern India it is used for charcoal, and is one of the best woods for that purpose. 

 It has been found good for railway sleepers, and it is probably only the smallness of 

 the tree and the consequent waste in cutting up that has prevented its more general 

 use. A number of sleepers were cut for the Northern Bengal State Railway in 1876, but 

 no report has yet been made of their quality. The chief product of the tree is Catechu 

 (cutch or Katha), which is obtained by boiling down the wood cut into chips. It is 

 extensively manufactured in Kumaun, Oudh and in Burma, but not in Northern Bengal 

 or Assam. Cutch is used by natives in India to chew with the betel-leaf, and is largely 

 exported to Europe for dyeing and tanning. Medicinally it is used as an astringent 

 for fevers and in other maladies. 



Ibs. 



54 

 63 

 63 



53 



64 

 59 

 Mahauadi Forest, Darjeeling Terai 48 



H 938. Hazara, Punjab . 



P 604. Kangra, 



P 1196. Madhopur, Punjab 



P 98. Sutlej Valley, Punjab 



P 455. Ajmere 



O 255. Garhwal (1868) . 



C 2758. Moharli Reserve, Central Provinces 



E 663. Rakti Forest, Darjeeling Terai 



E 2356. 



The variety of A. Catechu with darker coloured wood, which probably corre- 

 sponds to the variety A. of Brandis' Burma List of 1862, is found in the Central 

 Provinces, Darjeeling Terai and Burma. There is some uncertainty regarding its 

 identification, but apparently it is only a variety of A. Catechu, with darker coloured, 

 less heavy and less hard heartwood, and a slightly different structure as above. The 

 wood is not quite so hard as that of the ordinary form, and in structure it differs by 

 having larger pores, and finer and more pronounced medullary rays. To this form 

 belong 



C 189. 

 C 203. 

 E 625. 

 F 2355. 

 B 1454. 

 No. 2. 



Mandla, Central Provinces (1866) . 



> n 



Bamunpokri, Darjeeling Terai (locolly, Tcankar) 



> > it 



Prome, Burma 



Salem Collection . 



Ibs. 

 59 

 63 

 59 

 70 

 75 

 76 



C. 1308 (75 Ibs.) and C. 1310 (76 Ibs.), called Klwini and Stun; from Oumsur, 

 differ from A. Catechu by smaller ;m<i more numerous pores, :iml liner :uul mure 

 numerous medullary rays. They uuiy very probably belong to A. Suma, Uuch. 



