VARIETIES OK TIII: SI-KMKS 



ACACIA 



CATECHU 



Cutch Extract 



the three foriMH 



Bombay Cutch. 



ehnrai teiiMirs and respective areas of distribution 



of this plant. These are briefly as follows : 



Varieties of the Species : Var. < a ) Catechu. CV/J//r. petals and rachis with Varieties. 

 ft/>rf<i<lin<f liitim. This is the most northern form, having been recorded as 

 met \\itli in lla/ara, Kashmir, Simla, Kangra, Garhwal, Muasoorie, Central Kuraaoo Kath. 

 linliii, Hihur, i.n<l us far smith as Canjam. Hut it has nc\-r IM-I-M found in the 



rni Himalaya nr in Attain, and it has been only once reported eat met 

 with in Mm ma. Tliis is, therefore, tlio kath-yiolding form of Kumaon the pale 

 cntrli, as it is sometimes railed, the khair, khoiru, etc. 



Var. (,i'i Catechuoldes. Calyx and petals glabrous but the rachis puberulous. I'egn Cutch. 

 Tliis is met \\ith in Bengal from Monghyr and Patna to Sikkim, Assam and 

 Burma. Though quite common in Pegu and Prome it has not as yet been 

 collected in the Shan hills nor in Upper Burma to the north of Ava. It 

 is, therefore, the cutch-yiolding plant of Burma, and " Pegu Cutch " is the chief 

 commercial form of the extract. Its best names are khair, koir, sha, etc. 



Var. (7) Sundra. Calyx, petals and rachis, all glabrous. This is the Southern Madras and 

 and Western plant and affords the cutch of Madras and Bombay Presidencies, 

 being very common from Coimbatore northwards to the Deccan, Kanara and 

 the Konkan, and has been recorded so far to the north-west as in Kathiawar 

 and Raj put ana, and to the north-east in Burma, at Segain, Mandalay, and 

 the Shan hills. It is the lal-khair (red Catechu), the nallasandra (or simply 

 sandra, or, as Sir Walter Elliot renders it, chandra), also the kati, kute, kachu, 

 kagli, kempu, shemi, karangalli, bagd, banni, etc. [Of. Cooke, Fl. Free. Bomb., 

 i ..' 148; Hooper, Kept. Labor. 2nd. Mua. 1903-4, 28.] 



Chief Products. These three forms of var. A. Catechu are said to Properties 

 be practically identical in their properties and uses. They all yield a uses, 

 a GUM, an astringent EXTRACT and a useful TIMBER. 



The GUM is of a pale yellow colour and often occurs in tears one inch Gum. 

 in diameter. It is sweet to the taste, soluble in water, forms a strong 

 pale-coloured mucilage and is not precipitated by neutral acetate of lead, 

 but gelatinises with basic acetate of lead, ferric chloride and borax. It 

 freely reduces Fehling's solution. It is a better substitute for the True 

 Gum Arabic than is babul gum. Most of the superior qualities of INDIAN 

 GUM ARABIC, especially those of South India, are very possibly obtained 

 from this species of Acacia. 



THE TIMBER. Sapwood yellowish-white, heartwood either dark or Timber, 

 light red, extremely hard. It seasons well, takes a fine polish and is 

 extremely durable. It is used for all kinds of agricultural implements, 

 wheelwrights' work, etc. In Burma it is employed for house posts and 

 very largely as fuel for the steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla. The FUEL 

 of dead khair is much valued by goldsmiths. In Northern India cutch 

 wood is made into CHARCOA!, and is regarded as one of the best woods charcoal, 

 for that purpose. It has been pronounced good for railway sleepers. A 

 cubic foot of variety (a) weighs from 50 to 60 Ib. ; of (/?) about 60 to 

 70 Ib., and of (y) slightly more. But it is as the material from which 

 CUTCH extract is prepared that the wood of this plant attains its greatest 

 value. 



THE EXTRACT CUTCH OR CATECHU. 



It is not proposed to deal with this substance very elaborately in the 

 present work. The article in the Dictionary, amplified as it has been 

 by The Agricultural Ledger (1895, No. 1; 1896, Nos. 2, 35; 1902, 

 Nos. 1, 2 ; 1906, No. 3) contains practically all that is known. 

 The reader is referred to these publications, and the remarks that follow 

 must, therefore, be accepted as an abstract intended alone to set forth 

 the aspects of commercial interest : 



Commercial Qualities of the Extract aud Methods of Manufacture. How far Commercial 

 the peculiarities of the above-mentioned trees account for the different properties 



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