Acacia 1^99 



ACACIA MELANOXYLON, Blackwood 



Acacia melanoxylon, R. Brown, in Aiton, Hort. Kew. v. 462 (1813); Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 1659 

 (1814)5 Loudon, Art. et Frut. Brit. ii. 663 (1838); J. D. Hooker, Fl. Tasm. i. 109 (i860); 

 Bentham, Fl. Austral, ii. 388 (1864), and in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 481 (1875); Gamble, 

 Indian Timbers, 301 (1902); Rodway, Tasm. Flora, 42 (1903); Maiden, Forest Flora N.S. 

 Wales, ii. 103, plate 57 (1907). 



Acacia latifolia, Desfontaines, Table Acole Bot. Paris, 207 (1815). 



Acacia arcuata, Sieber, ex Sprengel, Syst. iii. 135 (1826). 



Acacia brevipes^ Cunningham, in Bot. Mag. t. 3358 (1834). 



An evergreen tree, attaining occasionally, in Australia, 120 ft. in height, and 

 6 to 10 ft. in girth; but usually only about 80 ft. high. Young branchlets angled, 

 minutely grey tomentose, or rarely glabrous. Stipules absent. Phyllodes cori- 

 aceous, glabrous, usually falcate, very variable in size, averaging 2\ to 4 in. long 

 and ^ to f in. wide ; lanceolate or oblong, gradually tapering to an obtuse or acute 

 apex, which is tipped with a cartilaginous point ; much narrowed towards the base ; 

 with three or four conspicuous longitudinal veins, connected by anastomosing 

 veinlets ; margin entire, cartilaginous. True leaves often present erratically on 

 young trees, bipinnate, with a tomentose rachis and secondary axes, the latter 

 bearing oblong apiculate leaflets, about \\-o\ in. long. 



Flower heads, three to four in an axillary raceme, globose, yellow, about \ in. 

 in diameter ; peduncles ^ to ^ in. long, glabrous ; flowers minute, thirty to fifty in a 

 head, pentamerous, with coherent calyces and denticulate sepals ; petals free. Pods 

 linear, flat, often curved in a circle, 2 to 4 in. long, about \ in. broad, with 

 thickened cartilaginous margins, and glaucous coriaceous valves. Seed small, 

 nearly orbicular, with a long dilated pale red funicle, encircling it in double folds. 



A. melanoxylon is known in Australia as blackwood, and is widely distributed 

 in Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales, extending into South Australia and 

 Queensland. It is most common on rich soil in valleys or grassy ranges ; and 

 ascends in the mountains to considerable elevations. It yields a timber of the 

 highest class, which Gamble compares to light-coloured walnut. It is hard and 

 close-grained, taking a fine polish; and is very beautiful when figured. It is used 

 in Sydney and Melbourne for making billiard tables, furniture, gunstocks, coaches, 

 and railway carriages ; and is imported by English pianoforte manufacturers.^ 



(A.H.) 



A. melanoxylon was introduced into England about 1808, and is occasionally 

 grown out-of-doors in the south-west. At Abbotsbury, raised ten years ago from seed, 

 it is about 35 ft. high ; and seedlings have been raised from it. At Tregothnan, I saw 

 several trees flowering well in 191 1, one of which was 35 ft. high by i ft. 8 in. in girth. 



In the south of France,^ it is the best of the acacias for avenues, as it forms a 

 tall tree regular in habit ; and at Hyeres there are numerous natural seedlings. 

 It was introduced in 1840 into the Nilgiris in India, where it is completely 

 naturalised. (H. J. E.) 



' This is a variety, which appeared in cultivation at Kew, with longer and more falcate phyllodes, attaining S to 7 inches 

 in length. ^ Cf. Penny, Tasm. Forestry, 9 (1905). ' Pottier, in Lejardin, xxii. 75 (1908). 



