299 



Often found useless for timber purposes (Wood & Evans, Natal, 

 PL i. p. 24), as the tree is very liable to attack by white ants, and 

 may be hollow in the centre. 



The timber is burnt by the natives of Lagos for the sake of the ash 

 (Foster, Herb. Kew). 



Grows very rapidly on old farms (Thompson, List of For. Trees, 

 S. Nigeria, 1910, p. 6). 



Albizzia Lebbek, Benth. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 358. 



III. — Jacq. Ic. Rar. i. t. 198 (Mimosa speciosa) ; Tuss. Ant. iv. t. 29 

 {Acacia lebbec) ; Ralph, Ic. Carp. t. 5, f . 1 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 53 ; 

 Vidal, Fl. For. Filip. t. 45e (pod & parts of flower) ; Ann. Inst. Col. 

 Marseille, vi. 1899, p. 36, fi£. 4-5 {Acacia Lebbek) ; Contr. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. viii. pt. 2, 1903, t. 15 {Acacia amarilta) ; Stone, Timb. Comm. 

 t. 5. f. 40 (trans, sec. of wood) ; Pobeguin, Fl. Guin. Frang. t. 71 

 (habit) ; De Wildeman. Etude Fl. Bas. Congo ii. t. 3 (pods) ; Talbot, 

 For. Fl. Bombay, i. fiP. 280-282. 



Vernac. names. — Sacr (F. W. Africa, Chevalier) ; Lubach (Khar- 

 toum, Grant) ; Laebach (Arabic, Moloney) ; Siris (India, Watt, 

 King, Prain). — Woman's tongue (so named because the pods are 

 always rattling), Egyptian Sensitive or Oriental Ebony, East Indian 

 Walnut, Kokoh or Kokka (Rangoon). 



Wild in Tropical Asia — India, Ceylon, Burma &c. ; distributed to 

 Tropical Africa ; found also in Malaya, China, N. Australia, &c, and 

 cultivated in many tropical countries. 



The bark is used in Madras for tanning fishing-nets (Watt, Comm. 

 Prod. India, p. 416). 



The leaves and twigs are given as fodder to camels. The wood is 

 used for sugar-cane crushers, oil mills, furniture, well-curbs, wheel- 

 work, and boats in India, also for house-posts and various building 

 purposes in the Andamans (Gamble, Man. Ind. Timb. p. 304) ; for 

 agricultural and industrial instruments and appliances, picture 

 frames, &c. (Watt, I.e.) ; recommended for paving blocks ; price in 

 Rangoon (1900) for 100 sq. metres [7750 blocks], 1043 francs (Mus. 

 Kew) ; weight, 42-61 lbs. per cubic ft. 



It comes into London from the Andamans, in logs up to 50 ft. 

 long with 3 ft. siding, and the " burrs " fetch 10 to 20 times the 

 value of ordinary wood (Gamble, I.e.). 



Easily propagated by seed or cuttings ; grows rapidly, very hand- 

 some when in flower, and is well adapted, with judicious pruning, to 

 forming avenues. The tree is under cultivation in the Oloke Meji 

 Reserve (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 630, 1909, p. 14), and is being planted 

 extensively as a shade tree in the Colony (Report, Bot. Gdn. Oloke - 

 Meji, 1907). 



Ref— East Indian Walnut, Handbook No. 22, 1893, Imp. Inst. 



Series, pp. 1-2. " Acacia Lebbek" Heckel, in Annales l'lnst. Col. 



Marseille, vi. 1899 : Gommes, Resines, pp. 35-38. The Lebbek 



or Siris Tree, Fairchild, U.S. Dept. Agric. Div. of Botany, Oirc. 



No. 23, 1900, pp. 1-4. " Le Lebbek," Fairchild, in Bull. Soc. Nat. 



D'Acclimatation, de France, 1901, pp. 84-86. "Albizzia Lebbek," in 



Man. Ind. Timb. Gamble, pp. 303-304. "East Indian Walnnt," 



in Tech. Rep. & Sci. Papers, Imp. Inst. Part 1 (1903), pp. 303 304. 

 u East Indian Walnut, Albizzia Lebbek" in The Timbers of 



