ACACIA 461 



putana, where it is abundant, and Ajmer ; it is also found in Arabia and Africa. 

 In its Indian region the absohite maximum shade temperature may rise to 

 over 120'" F., and the absolute minimum may sink to well under freezing- 

 point, while the normal rainfall varies from about 10 to 25 in. The tree occurs 

 on the poorest soil on rocky hills and sandy tracts. In Ajmer it is associated 

 with Anogeissus pendula, Acacia Catechu, and Boswellia serrata : here it pro- 

 duces abundant seed every year, and is said to regenerate freely under con- 

 ditions adverse enough to prevent the regeneration of A. Catechu. Parker 

 says it regenerates much more freely than A. modesta, and that it has been 

 employed successfully for afforesting bare rocky hills and shifting sand in the 

 Jaipur state. Raj putana. Mr. E. Mc Arthur Moir,-*^ writing of sowings of this 

 and other species in the dry regions of Ajmer-Merwara, notes that the seedlings 

 died back for two or three years before finally establishing themselves and 

 'becoming capable of resisting drought and frost, developing in the meantime 

 taproots of great length and thickness. The tree is readily browsed by camels 

 and goats. It is a hardy species, surviving under most adverse conditions. 



The fragrant white flowers, in lax spikes 2-4 in. long, appear from August 

 to December ; the pods, which ripen the following spring, are 3 in. long by 

 0-7 in. broad, thin, flexible, brown when ripe, five- or six-seeded, tardily 

 dehiscent. 



6. Acacia planifrons, W. and A. Umbrella thorn. Vern. Kodaivelam, 

 odai (which is also a name given to A. Latronum), Tarn. ; Godugu thumma, Tel. 



A small to moderate-sized tree with a flat spreading dense umbrella-like 

 crown, common and often gregarious in the southern parts of the Indian 

 Peninsula, in the south Deccan, Salem, Madura, Tinnevelly, and Travancore, 

 in dry forests, often occurring along with A. Latronum, and sometimes also 

 with A. arabica, Albizzia amara, Dichrostachys ciiierea, Chloroxylon Swietenia, 

 and a few others. Mixed with A. Latronum it forms at times a dense and 

 impenetrable growth, but often it occurs in stunted form in open crops. In 

 shape it exhibits the umbrella form characteristic of tropical open xerophilous 

 woodland. The tree reproduces from root-suckers when felled ; in the Tin- 

 nevelly district it is worked for the production of fuel as simple coppice on 

 a rotation of fifteen years, reproduction being largely from root-suckers. 

 Seedling reproduction is also said to be good in open places. 



7. Acacia Latronum, Willd. Vern. Odai (also a name given to A. plaiii- 

 frons), odai usal, Tam. ; Jala, Tel. 



A gregarious very thorny shrub or small tree resembling A. planifrons 

 in its spreading umbrella-like crown, but smaller than that species. It is 

 common in the dry parts of the Deccan and southern India, covering con- 

 siderable stretches of country with a dense impenetrable thorny scrub, and 

 often growing on bare hard gravelly soil, both on flat ground and on the lower 

 hill slopes, where it may perform a useful function in preventing erosion and 

 in protecting young plants of other species from injury by browsing. It is 

 readily browsed by goats itself, though its thorns afford a formidable protec- 

 tion. The thorns are of two kinds, one large, white, conical and hollow, often 

 tenanted by large black ants, and the other shorter and slender. Among its 

 more common associates are Acacia planifrons, A. leucophloea, A. arabica, 



1 Ind. Forester, iv (1879), p. 387. 



