ACACIA. 



ill 1729. Tliefe produced placu which flowered in the 

 (lore at Chelfea. The prefent fpecies is certainly next 

 akin to the laft, however differently its inflorefcence may 

 hare been defcribed or delineated by authors, in which 

 refpeft indeed Miller and Houftoun difagree. The plate 

 of the former however has all the appearance of fidehty, and 

 it is poflible the ^yxuAfoiver-Jlalls may vary in length, or, 

 more probably, be elongated as the flowers open. Having 

 feen no fpecimens, we mufl; be guided by the materials 

 before us, from which we gather that the leaves of j1. 

 Hoiijlont have not half fo many pinnae, and that their leafiets 

 are narrower, longer, more acute, and more curved. The 

 petals are purple. Legume thick-edged, hairy, tapering at 

 the bafe. The leaf in Parad. Land. t. 64, cited in Hort. 

 Keiu. appears to belong to this fpecies, but the Jlotvers, and 

 perhaps the legume, which is fmooth, feem thofe of A. gran- 

 diflora. If this be the cafe, the fmooth legume, not tapering 

 at the bafe, would be an important addition to the fpecific 

 charafter oi grandtflora. 



Seft. 5. Leaves doubly pinnate. Stipulas becoming fp'mes. 

 Spites elongated. Ten fpecies in Willdenow. 



A. jultflora. Long-flowered Acacia. Willd. n. 66. Ait. 

 n. 41. (Mimofa juliflora ; Swarta Prodr. 85. Ind. Occ. 

 986, printed by xm^ske piliflora. M. dilfufa, fpica oblonga, 

 filiquis longioribus compreflis ; Browne Jam. 252. n. 2.) — 

 Spines ftipulary, in pairs. Leaves doubly pinnate ; firft 

 divifion of two pair, with intermediate glands ; fecond of 

 about twenty pair of oblong leaflets. Spikes axillary, two 

 or three together, cylindrical, pendulous. — Native of very 

 dry fields in the fouth part ot Jamaica, flowering in the 

 middle of fummer. The Jlem varies from fix to thirty feet 

 in height. Branches long and fpreading. Spines ftrong, 

 four or five lines in length, prominent, curved upwards. 

 Leaves fpreading, with nairow, obtufe, fmooth, ribbed 

 leajlets. Spikes two or three inches long, lax, many -flowered. 

 Flowers crowded, feflile, veiy numerous, yellow, fweet- 

 fcented. Corolla internally hairy. Stamens eight or ten, 

 diftinft. Legume from three to five inches long, comprefled, 

 fmooth, often twifted, containing feveral oblong brown 

 feeds, feparated by flefliy partitions. There are numerous 

 Jloiuers in each fpike deftitute of a pijlil. Cattle feeding on 

 the leaves and young branches, unlefs gradually accuftomed 

 to them, are poifoned, and the fweet legumes are reported 

 to be noxious. The inhabitants of Jamaica call this plant 

 Cajheiii. Browne erroneoufly gives it the name of Poponax, 

 which belongs to Mimofa [Acacia) toriuofa. Siuartz. See 

 Sea. 6. 



A. ci^ra. Hottentot Acacia. Willd. r. 70. Ait. n. 42. 

 ( MimoS cafFra ; Thunb. Prodr. 92.) — ',' Spines ftipulary, 

 in pairs, incurved. Leaves doubly pinnate ; firft divifion 

 of twelve pair ; fecond of many pair ; with a gland on the 

 footftalk. Spikes axillary, cyfindrical." — FouiKi by Thun- 

 berg in Southern Africa. Sent to Kew in 1800, by W. 

 SomerviDe, M. D. The branches are round and ftriated. 

 Firft divifions of the leaves from feven to twelve, fecond 

 from twenty to thirty, pair ; leaflets HTiear, obtufe, fmooth. 

 Fooiflalks nearly fmooth ; the common one bearing a de- 

 preiTed gland above its bafe. Spike ftalked, two inches 

 long. Legume tlie fame length, linear-lanceolate, fiat. 

 Willdenoiv. 



A. Catechu. Medicinal Acacia. Willd. n. 73. Ait. 

 n. 44. (Mimofa Catechu; Linn. Suppl. 409. Woodv. 

 Med. Bot. 183. t. 66. Roxb. Coromand. v. 2. 40. t. 175. 

 Terra Japonica ; Kerr in Med. Obf. and Inqu. v. 5. 151. 

 t. 4.) — Spines ftipulary, hooked, in pairs. Leaves hairy, 

 doubly pinnate ; nrft divifion of ten or twelve pair ; fecond 

 of many pair ; with a gland at each extremity of the com- 



mon footftalk. Spikes cylindrical, axillary, two or three 

 together. — Native of the mountainous parts of Coromandel, 

 A large tree, of which feeds have been fent by Dr. Rox- 

 burgh to fir J. Banks. Thefe have vegetated at Kew, but 

 the plants have not arrived at a flowering ftate. The branches 

 are round, downy when young ; the older ones befet with 

 numerous pairs of fmall recurved thorns, originating in the 

 Jlipulas, as in all the plants of this feftion. Leaves flender 

 and delicate, finely hairy, pale green ; their leqflets crowded, 

 hardly a quarter of an inch long, linear, rounded at each. 

 end, unequal at the bafe. Spikes flender, three or four inches 

 long, hairy, ftalked, pale yellow. Legume oblong, acute 

 at each end, flat, fmooth, with three or four diftant flat 

 feeds. " The luood,'^ fays Dr. Roxburgh, "is good, and 

 applied to various ufes ; but the natives have no idea of ex- 

 tradling from it, or any other, the Catechu, or Terra Japo- 

 nica. Yet I believe there are many trees as fit to yield this 

 extraft, as the prefent." Mr. Kerr, afliftant furgeon to the 

 civil hofpital at Bengal, has however defcribed the mode of 

 preparing the Catechu, (fee that article,) by boiling the 

 interior coloured part of the wood of this fpecies, till an 

 infpiffated extraft is obtained, which is the drug in queftion, 

 long fuppofed to be an earth produced in Japan. Another 

 fort of Catechu, or Gutta Gamhir, made in Sumatra, Prinee 

 of Wales's ifland, &c., has been fiiewn by Mr. Hunter, 

 fecretary to the Afiatic Society, in Tranfaftions of the 

 Linnaean Society, v. 9. 2 1 8. to be the produce of a fpecies 

 of Nauclea. (See that article, fpec. 7.) We prefume 

 tliat Mr. Kerr and Mr. Hunter are equally correft, and that 

 the two diftinft kinds of Terra Japonica, known to drug- 

 gifts, are thus accounted for. 



Seft. 6. Leaves doubly pinnate. Stipulas becoming fpines. 

 Spikes globofe. Sixteen fpecies in Willdenow. 



A. macracantha, Long-thoi-ned Acacia. Willd. n. 76. 

 — " Spines ftipulary, in paire, lanceolate, compreifed, nearly 

 as long as the leaves, which are doubly pinnate ; firft divi- 

 fion of twelve pair ; fecond of many pair ; vrith a depreffed 

 gland at each extremity of the common footftalk. Spikes 

 ftalked, globofe." — Gathered by Humboldt and Bonpland 

 in South America. The branches are ftriated, and nearly 

 round. Leaflets about thirty pair in each divifion, linear, 

 obtufe, fringed. Footflalks downy. Spines two inches or 

 more in length, fharp -pointed, fpreading at a right angle. 

 Heads oi flowers the fize of a pepper-corn, on long ftalks, 

 in pairs, either axillary, or difpofed in a fort of clufter at 

 the ends of the branches. Willdenoiv. This fpecies appears 

 very remarkable, on account of the great fize of its thorns. 



A., eburnea. Ivory -thorned Acacia. Willd. n. 78. (Mi- 

 mofa ebumea ; Linn. Suppl. 437. M. leucacantha ; Jacq. 

 Hort. Schoenbr. v. 3. 75. t. 393.) — Spines ftipulary, in 

 pairs, cyhndrical-awlihaped, combined at the bafe, fpread- 

 ing. Leaves doubly pinnate ; firft divifion of three or four 

 pair ; fecond of fix or more pair ; leaflets diftant, elliptic- 

 oblong. Heads axillary, ftalked, aggregate. — Sent by 

 Kosnig from the Eaft Indies. Jacquin by miftake makes it 

 a native of Africa. He cultivated it at Schoenbrun, but 

 we have not met with this fpecies in any Enghfli ftove, the 

 following one having been mifcalled by the above name. 

 The true ^. ebumea, of which the original Linnsan fpeci- 

 men lies before us, is a twifted irregularly hranchedfhrub, 

 whofe twigs are round and zigzag, armed with tremendous 

 ftraight ^/Kifj, v/hich are white, fmooth and polifhed, almoft 

 like ivory, but brown and very (harp at the end : the longe;l 

 meafure nearly two inches ; fome are but a quarter that fite : 

 they taper gradually from a thick confluent bafe. Leaves 

 about two inches long, with fmooth lea/lets, placed at th? 

 diilance of their own width from each other. Commen foot- 

 10 flalk 



