Acacia.] leguminoSj*:. 



101 



36. ACACIA, Willd. 

 Sepals 5, 4, or 3, free or united. Petals as many, free or united. Stamens 

 indefinite, usually very numerous, free or slightly connected at the very base. 

 Pod linear or oblong, flat or nearly cylindrical, opening in 2 valves or inde- 

 hiscent. — Leaves twice pinnate, or in some Australian species reduced to a 

 simple phyllodium or dilated petiole. Flowers usually yellow or white, iri 

 globular heads or cylindrical spikes, often polygamous. 



A very large genus, one-half Australian, the remainder dispersed over the wanner regions 

 of the globe. 



Thorns straight, in stipnlar pairs. Pod thick, cylindrical or fusiform, dry 1. A. farnesiana. 

 Prickles recurved, scattered. Pod thick, but slightly flattened, succulent 2. J. conomna. 



1. A. farnesiana, W^llld.; DC. Prod.n.4,61. A much-branched shrub, 

 quite glabrous or slightly pubescent on the petioles and peduncles. Leaves of 

 4 to 6 or rarely to 8 pair of pinnae. Leaflets 10 to 20 pair on each pinna, 

 linear, about 2 lines long. Stipules converted into slender straight thorns 

 very variable in length, the plant otherwise unarmed. Peduncles usually 2 or 

 3 together in the older axils, each bearing a single globular head of yellow or 

 whitish sweet-scented flowers. Pod thick, irregularly cylindrical or fusiform, 

 indehiscent, fiUed with a pithy substance, in the midst of which lie the seeds. 

 — Vachellia farnesiana, W. and Arn. ;^ Wight, Ic. t. 300. 



Common about the houses, Hance. Supposed to be of American origin, but much- planted 

 in almost all warm countries, and, spreading readily, has become apparently wild, or is, ac- 

 cording to some, really indigenous in many parts of Asia, Africa, and North Australia. 



2. A. concinna, BO. Prod. ii. 464. A woody climber, the young parts 

 pubescent, but often glabrous when full grown, with numerous recurved 

 prickles scattered on the branches and petioles. Leaves of 4 to 6 pair of 

 pinnae, with a gland immediately below the lower 1, 2, or 3 pair. Leaflets 

 12 to 18 pair, obliquely oblong, obtuse, of a pale green, about \ in. long. 

 Stipules large, cordate, thin, very deciduous. Flower-heads globular, on slen- 

 der peduncles of about 1 in. long, in branching racemes or panicles. Pod 3 

 to 5 in. long, near 1 in. broad, thick and fleshy, with cross partitions between 

 the seeds, and when ripe either separating into articles but otherwise inde- 

 hiscent, or sometimes opening on the edges opposite the seeds. — ArtJirosprion 

 stipulatum, Hassk. Eetzia, i. 212, but not Albizzia stipulata, Benth. 



In the Happy Valley, Champion ; also Hance and Wright. None of these specimens are 

 however in flower, and I am therefore uncertain of their identity with the plant I describe, 

 from continental Asiatic specimens. The species is widely spread over India and the Archi- 

 pelago. 



37. ALBIZZIA, Durazz. 



' Calyx campanulate or tubular, 5 -toothed. Corolla 5-lobed, with a cylin- 

 drical tube. Stamens indefinite, usually numerous and long, united in a tube 

 at the base. Pod liuear or oblong, flat, thin, indehiscent or opening in two 

 valves.— Trees or shrubs, without prickles. Leaves twice pinnate, with a 

 gland on the petiole below the pinnae, and others between some or all the 

 pinn» and leaflets. Flowers in globular heads or rarely cylindrical spikes, 

 usually hermaphrodite ; the stamens usually white or pink, rarely yellow, much 

 Ipnger than iri Acacia. 



