ACACIA VERA. 
177 
Thb AcACiAE were formerly a subdivision of the genus Mimosa of 
Linnaeus, who says, " MimosEe legumen articulatum ; foHa veluti 
sensitiva. Acacise legumen cylindraceum ; folia non moventia se h 
lactu." * But Willdenow has established the Acaciae as a distinct 
genus. In their general appearance the Acaciae and Mimosae bear 
a strong resemblance to each other, and perhaps the division of them 
may be considered rather an artificial than a natural arrangement; 
the species of both are very numerous, and many of them have long 
formed some of the greatest ornaments of our green houses. We may 
furtlier observe, that the Mimosae and Acaciae are to be found ge- 
nerally throughout the warm regions of Asia, Africa, and the Islands 
in the South Seas ; and that they ail, more or less, exude a gummy 
matter, similar to the gum arable of commerce. 
The Acacia Vera (Mimosa Nilotica of Linnaeus) is a native of the 
sandy parts of Arabia Petrsea and Egypt, flowering in July : it appears 
to have been sometime known to our EngUsh botanists, and was culti- 
vated by Gerarde at the end of the sixteenth, or beginning of the seven- 
teenth century. The greatest quantity of pure gum arable is furnished 
by this tree, but as we before observed, a similar gum may be obtained 
from all the species of the Mimosa and Acacia ; and from many other 
trees also, as the Svvietenia febrifuga, Melia azadirachta, the Termi- 
nalias, and even the cherry and plum trees of Europe. Dr. Ainslie 
says there are several gums which resemble the true gum arable, or 
that of the Acacia Vera, which grows in almost every part of Africa; 
but, perhaps none of them comes nearer to it than the Vullum 
Pisin, or gum of the Feronia Elephantum of Roxburgh, (or what is 
called the wood-apple tree) and which is commonly used for medi- 
cinal purposes by all the practitioners of Lower India. What is 
termed the Baul tree, in Bengal, (Acacia Arabica of Willdenow) 
also furnishes a great deal of gum, which is employed in place of 
gum arable ; it would appear to be the same tree that Dr. Wittman, 
in his travels, (p. 231) mentions as yielding much gum arabic in 
Turkey. We learn frojn Niebhurf that a considerable quantity of 
gum arabic is produced in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, and 
brought for exportation to Alexandria. In Morocco,^ a great deal 
of it is procured, especially about Rasel-wed and Bled/iummer, in 
the province of Abda, where the tree is called Attaleh. 
* Species Plantarum. 
+ Niebhur's Travels, vol. i. p. 99. 
t See Jackson's Acconnt of Morocco, p. 83^. 
VOL I. 
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