2 DICTIOXARY OF POPULAR NAMES ACACIA 



pound winged, but in tlie greater number of tlie Australian 

 species the true leaves are suppressed, the foot-stalks performing 

 the function of the leaves (and termed Phyllodese), in some 

 cases being broad, of various forms, or long and linear, spiny 

 or heath-like. In some cases the true leaves are produced on 

 the apex of the broad i.rms. The flowers are produced in 

 compact globose heads or spikes, of various colours, generally 

 white, pink, or yellow, the latter being the predominant colour 

 in the Australian species. Their seed pods vary from simple 

 and straight to horn-like, or curved, or twisted like a screw. 

 As may be expected in such an extensive and varied genus, 

 their uses are manifold. In India the genus is represented by 

 about eighteen species of trees of various sizes and quality of 

 timber, of which those of special interest are noticed under their 

 respective local names, or of their products. (See, for example, 

 Gum Arabic, Algaroba, etc.) They are widely spread through- 

 out India, some attaining the height of 60, 80, and 100 feet, 

 especially in the forests of Pegu and Prome. In Western Asia 

 and Africa the genus is represented by gum -yielding species, 

 as A. arahica, A. caffra, A. capense, A. giraffce, A. horrida, A. 

 rohusta, A. Senegal, and A. Seijal, most of which are small- 

 sized thorny trees of forbidding aspect occupying vast tracts of 

 desert country. Various species of Acacia are also common 

 throughout the West Indies, tropical America, and the islands 

 of the Indian Ocean and Pacific, chiefly valued for their 

 timber. With regard to the Australian species, about 300 

 are recorded, of which (a few years ago) 96 formed part of 

 the Australian collection at Kew. They vary in habit from 

 furze and heath-like shrubs to trees 50 to 60 feet in heicrht. 

 In the greater number of species, as above stated, the true 

 leaves are suppressed, the principal ones with true leaves being 

 A, dealbata, A. decurrens, A. elata, A. florihunda, A. lophantha, 

 and A. mollissima, all beautiful and hard- wooded trees. They 

 are, however, fast disappearing from their native haunts, whole 

 districts being cleared for the sake of their bark, of which ship- 

 loads are being annually imported to this country for the use 



