180 XXXI. LEGUMINOS.E. [Acacia. 



and elsewhere in India, the most important of which are : A. dealbata, Link. ; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. ii. 415. The Silver Wattle; N.S. Wales, Victoria, and Tas- 

 mania ; a tree spreading rapidly by numberless root-suckers, with grey bipinnate 

 hoary leaves, linear leaflets, and small yellow flower-heads in axillary and ter- 

 minal panicles. A. melanoxylon, Australian Blackwood, K. Brown ; Benth. 1. 

 c. 388 ; N.S. Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia ; a large tree with 

 hard and durable wood, coriaceous phyllodia (vertically dilated leaf-stalks) in- 

 stead of leaves, except on young trees which have partially bipinnate leaves. 

 Flowers in globose compact heads on short axillary racemes. Sapwood small, 

 heartwood dark brown, often beautifully feathered and mottled, strong and tough, 

 used for axe-handles, other implements, and cabinet-work. 



1. A. Latronum, Willd. ; Benth. inLond. Jour, of Bot. i. (1842)506 ; 

 W. & A. Prodr. 273. Syn. Mimosa Latronum, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 559. 



A shrub or small tree, armed with numerous stout stipular spines, con- 

 nate at the base, generally of two kinds, the smaller J-l in. long, the 

 larger 2 in. long, conical, ivory-white and hollow inside. Leaves often 

 fasciculate, common petiole 1-1 J in. long, a gland on the naked part ; 

 pinnae 3-5 pair, 1 in. long or less; leaflets 10-12 pair, small, linear, glab- 

 rous or pubescent. Spikes lax, subsessile, often fasciculate, 1-1 J in. long, 

 flowers white at first, turning yellow afterwards, fragrant. Pods thin, 

 subcoriaceous, dehiscent, broadly falcate, 1-1 J in. long, J-f in. broad, 

 3-4-seeded. 



South India, Dekkan. Fl. Jan. -March. Often gregarious, forms formidable 

 thorny thickets. Bark dark brown, dotted with white. 



Madden, 1. c. 448, speaks of a " very beautiful and exceedingly bushy Acacia " 

 in hot valleys of East Kamaon (vern. Bhes), " either A. dumosa or Latronum" 



2. A. Farnesiana, Willd. ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 52. Syn. Mimosa Far- 

 nesiana, Linn. ; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 557. Vachellia Farnesiana, W. & A. 

 Prodr. 272. Vern. Vilayati kikar, vilayati babul, Gu-kikar. 



A thorny shrub, glabrous or pubescent, armed with straight stipular 

 spines. Common petiole 1 J-2 in. long, pinnae 4-8 pair, cup-shaped glands 

 below the lowest, and often at the base of the uppermost pair ; leaflets 

 linear, ciliate or nearly glabrous, 10-20 pair. Flowers in globose heads, 

 deep yellow, sweet-scented, supported by broad membranous bracts at the 

 base of the head. Peduncles slender, 3-5, fasciculate. Calyx 5-toothed; 

 corolla tubular, 5-toothed. Pod 2-3 in. long, glabrous, with elevated, 

 nearly parallel, reticulate lines, turgid, nearly cylindrical, scarcely dehis- 

 cent, filled with dry spongy tissue and a double row of seeds. 



Cultivated all over India, indigenous in America, from New Orleans, Texas, 

 Mexico, to Buenos Ayres and Chili. Fl. Feb., March. Exudes gum, which is 

 collected in Sindh. 



3. A. arabica, Willd. ; W. & A. Prodr. 277 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 47. 

 Syn. Mimosa arabica,~L&m. ; Eoxb. Cor. PI. 1. 149 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 557. Vern. 

 Kikar, Pb. ; Babbar, Sindh ; Babul, babur, N.W.P., Central India. 



A tree, with thorny branches. Petioles, peduncles, and branchlets pu- 

 bescent, leaves glabrous. Stipular spines spreading, generally straight, 

 varying in length J-2 in. long, smooth, generally whitish, with sharp, often 



