0041 



ACACIA 



Family: LEGUMINOSAE. 



Reproductive system: POLYGAMOUS, MONOECIOUS. 



The sweet acacia. Mimosa fames iana, Linn. , originally comes from southern 

 America. [Translator '$ note: also called huisache in Central America where it originated; 

 it is now designated Acacia fame siana Willd.] It has been acclimatized for several 

 centuries in Provence, especially in gardens in the Grasse district. Its elegant foliage and 

 the pleasant fragrance of its flowers have made the tree valuable and useful. Its trunk 

 grows to a height of twelve or fifteen feet. It has pairs of thorns at the bases of the 

 petioles. The leaves are two-fold bipinnately compound, consisting of sixteen to eighteen 

 small leaflets. The flowers are yellow; they form globular heads and are sessile, 

 frequently on axillary peduncles. The calyx is tubular, with five indentations at the top. 

 The corolla is monopetalous, with five divisions. The stamens are very numerous and are 

 much longer than the corolla. The ovary is superior, culminating in a style and stigma; it 

 develops into a curved, brown cylindrical pod. 



FLOWERS: around the end of summer. 



RANGE: the island of Santo Domingo, [Translator's note: Hispaniola, (now Haiti 

 and the Dominican Republic)] and Guiana. 



NOMENCLATURE. The name mimosa, which in Greek means a mime or a 

 comedian, was given to plants of this kind because of the movements they seem to 

 undergo at sunrise and at sunset, as well as under many other circumstances. German, die 

 Farnesische acacie. English, the sweetscenter mimosa or sponge-tree. Spanish, aronco. 

 Portuguese, esponja. 



USES. The flowers make an excellent product for the perfume industry. They 

 impart a pleasant odor to fabrics that keeps moth larvae away. In warm climates, the tree 

 can be used to enclose gardens and dwellings; 



