Acacia.] XXXI. LEGUMINOS^E. 183 



Dekkan. {Rain kanta, ram babul.) This variety is easily raised from seed, 

 the seedlings showing at once their peculiar character ; in poor soil and with 

 little moisture it is as hardy as the ordinary kind, but its growth appears to be 

 slower. Trees are occasionally found with the branches on one side bent over, 

 while those on the other are erect and ascending. Edgeworth states that 

 near Multan the cupressiform variety and the ordinary form may at times be 

 seen on the same tree. 



The variety called spina albida is probably no variety at all. All strong 

 young shoots from stumps of felled trees, or from a browsed or mutilated young 

 tree, or luxuriantly growing young plants, have generally very long, strong, white 

 spines, and this has probably given rise to the idea of a variety with white spines. 



4. A. Jacquemonti, Benth. in London Journ. of Botany, i. (1842) 499. 

 Yern. Hanza, Afg. ; Kikar, babul, bamul, babbil, Pb. ; Ratabauli, 

 Guzerat. 



A small bushy shrub, with stiff flexuose smooth brown branches. 

 Glabrous, stipular spines straight, 1-1 J in. long, ivory-white, connate at 

 base. Pinnae generally 2-4 pair; common petiole 1-2 in. long; glands 

 small and indistinct; leaflets 5-10 pair, oblong-linear, somewhat fleshy. 

 Peduncles fascicled, 5-10 from each axil, with 2 opposite scaly bracts 

 about the middle of the peduncle. Flowers capitate, yellow, sweet- 

 scented. Legume stipitate, 2-3 in. long, flat, glabrous, broad-linear, J in. 

 broad. 



East flank of Suliman range, ascending to 2500, and at times to 3200 ft. 

 Outer Himalaya near the Jhelam, to about the same elevation. Panjab plains, 

 Sindh, banks of the Nerbudda (Jacquemont). Common in ravines and dry 

 water-courses in Rajputana and North Guzerat. Fl. Feb.-May. Bark dark-red 

 brown, rarely cinereous, somewhat sulcate, but smooth and never speckled. 

 The bark of the root is used in the distillation of spirits ; the branches are cut, 

 and leaves thrashed out with sticks to be used as fodder, 



5. A. eburnea, Willd. ; "W. & A. Prodr. 276. Syn. Mimosa eburnea, 

 Roxb. PI. Cor. t. 199 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 558. Yern. Marmat, Dekkan. 



A large shrub or small tree. Branchlets hairy or glabrous, armed with 

 straight spines, often ivory-white, and 1-2 in. long. Pinnae 2-4 pair; 

 common petiole J-l in. long, with a large cup-shaped gland at the inser- 

 tion of the uppermost pair, and often another gland below the lowest pair. 

 Leaflets 6-8 pair, small, oblong ; petioles and leaflets often ciliate with 

 long hairs. Peduncles axillary, solitary or several, bearing globose, golden- 

 yellow flower-heads, with a pair of membranous bracts below the middle. 

 Corolla tubulose ; paleae cuneate, ciliate. Flowers with a somewhat un- 

 pleasant smell. Pods generally 2-4 at the apex of the peduncle, from one 

 flower-head, narrow-linear, 2-5 in. long, \ in. broad, slightly contracted 

 between the seeds. Seeds 8-12. 



East flank of Suliman range, ascending to 3000 ft., rarely to 5000 ft., rare in 

 the Salt range. Outer Himalaya, as far east as Kamaon. Rocky beds of ravines 

 in Oudh (R. Th.) Sindh, Oujein, the Dekkan, and South India. Also in 

 Afghanistan, and at Aden. Generally found in dry, barren places. Fl. Nov.- 

 Jan. ; fr. May, June. Generally a shrub, at times a small tree 14-15 ft. high, 

 with erect trunk, stiff divaricate, scrubby branches, and sparse greyish foliage. 

 Bark dark grey or reddish brown. 



