(JTi)e Crcatfurg of 23atann. 



[acal 



ally more or less cjiindrical, and of small 

 dimensions, becomes flattened out, and as- 

 sumes a leaf-like appearance : these dilated 

 Ie:if-stalks, or, as they are technically 

 termed, phyllodes, fulfil the functions of 

 the leaves, and are of very varied form 

 in the different species. They are al- 

 ways so placed that their edges look up- 

 wards and downwards, so that by this 

 means, as well as by the arrangement 



,s ** 



.Acacia argyrophylla (with phyllodes). 



of the veins, they may be distinguished 

 from true leaves, which have their surfaces 

 looking upwards and downwards. It results 

 from the singular position of these organs 

 that the trees possessing them give but 

 little shade, as the light is not intercepted 

 in its passage to so great an extent as it is 

 by the leaves of ordinary trees. This pecu- 

 liar direction of the leaf is not confined 

 to the acacias, but is also found in other 

 Australian trees : e. g. Eucalyptus. At the 

 base of the leaf-stalk of the acacias, where 

 it ]oinsj:he branch, are two small stipules, 

 which are sometimes represented by spines. 

 The species of acacia are very numerous, 

 and widely diffused in the warmer regions 

 of the globe. A. gummifera is found in 

 Mogadon A. Xemu is abundant in the en- 

 virons of Nagasaki, Japan. A. glandulosa 

 and A. brachyloba adorn the banks of the 

 Mississippi. Some of the species are of 

 great importance, as furnishing gum; others 

 contain an abundance of tannin, which 

 renders them useful for tanning purposes, 

 and in medicine as astringent drugs. Gum 

 arabic, or gum acacia, is an exudation from 

 various species of acacia, such as A. Verek, 

 A. arabica, A. vera, A. Adansonii, and others, 

 for the most part natives of Arabia, Bar- 

 bary, and the East Indies. Gum Senegal is 

 a similar product from other species of the 

 genus. Some Australian kinds called Wattle 

 tre^s furnish gum. The drug known as ca- 

 techu is prepared from various trees, but 

 especially from Acacia, Catechu, the wood 

 of which, is boiled down, and the de- 



coction subsequently evaporated, so as to 

 form an. extract much used in medicine as 

 an astringent. The bark of A. arabica is 

 used in India for tanning leather, under the 

 name of Bubul bark ; that of A. Melanoxylon 

 is used for the same purposes in Australia. 

 The pods of other species are likewise 

 similarly employed in Egypt and Nubia. 

 Many furnish excellent timber, and the 

 flowers of one species, A. Farnesiana, yield a 

 delicious perfume. The pods of A. concinna 

 are used in India like those of the soap-nut 

 for washing the head ; the leaves also are 

 acid, and used in cookery like those of 

 tamarinds. The pounded seeds of A. Niopo 

 are employed by certain of the Indian 

 tribes on the river Amazon as the basis of a 

 snuff, into the composition of which lime 

 and the juice of a species of Cocculus also 

 enter ; its effects are to produce a kind of 

 intoxication and invigoration of spirits. 

 Many kinds are cultivated in greenhouses 

 in this country, for the beauty of their 

 flowers or for their foliage ; some few even, 

 such as A. Julibrissin and A. lophantha, will 

 succeed out of doors in warm situations. 

 The name Acacia is also commonly given to 

 the locust-tree of North America, a very 

 different plant. See Robinia, and Mimosa. 

 The aspect of an Acacia scrub, which is one 

 of the characteristic features of Australian 

 vegetation, is shown in Plate 15. 



[M. T. M.] 



ACACIA BLANC. (Fr.) Robinia Pseud- 

 Acacia. — BOITEE. Robiniaumbracidifera. 

 — DE CONSTANTINOPLE. Acacia Juli- 

 brisshi. — DE SAINTE-HE'LE V NE. Acacia 

 vesiita. — DE SIBE'RIE. Caragana frutes- 

 cens. — PARASOL. Robinia umbrae ulif era. 



ACACIA, BASTARD or FALSE. Robinia 

 Pseud-Acacia, sometimes called the Locust- 

 tree. —ROSE. Robinia hispida. 



AOENA. A genus of the Sanguisorbacea?. 

 They are small herbs, mostly with woody 

 stems. The leaves are unequally pinnate, 

 the flowers small, white or purple, borne 

 on scapes and arranged in terminal balls, 

 or sometimes in spikes. Their calyces 

 are often beset with slender spines which 

 are furnished at their apex with reflexed 

 bristles. A. ovina is a common weed in S. 

 Australia and Tasmania, and is troublesome 

 in grazing districts from the bristles of the 

 fruit getting entangled in the wool of the 

 sheep ; it is also a pest to housewives from 

 their adhering to linen exposed to dry on 

 the grass; and, as well as many of the 

 species, a common annoyance to travellers 

 by catching their dress. A decoction of 

 the leaves of A.Sanguisorba is used in New 

 Zealand as tea and as a medicine. It is 

 the Piri Piri of the natives. There are 

 upwards of forty species in the genus, 

 chiefly natives of the temperate regions 

 of S.America; commencing in California, 

 they extend through the Andes (where 

 some of them reach the elevation of 15,000 

 feet) to Cape Horn ; they attain their maxi- 

 mum in Chili. ' [A. A. B.] 



ACALYPHA. A large genus of Spurge- 

 worts (Euphorbiace(B), comprising upwards 



