THE AUSTRALAS 
journal o£ Pfyae 
No. 1.] JUNE, 1885. 
(Bteigtiml Communications. 
SOME ECONOMIC TAN MATERIALS FROM NON-INDIGENOUS 
PLANTS CAPABLE OF CULTURE IN VICTORIA. 
By J. Bosisto, M.L.A., &c. 
Although nothing seems to surpass or equal for general tan purposes the Acacia 
Pycnantha, or A. Decurrens of Victoria, both commercially known as wattle bark, yet 
in the process of tanning other vegetable materials are required non-indigenous to this 
colony, but capable of successful cultivation. This has been pointed out on several 
occasions by Baron von Mueller, and strongly enforced by the Wattle Bark Commission 
of 1878, but up to the present time no concerted action has been taken either by the 
Forest Department or by joint private enterprise. 
The Rhus Coriaria or Sumach can be seen growing luxuriantly as an isolated 
shrub in some of our gardens. So also the Valonia Oak, Quercus CEgylops, and 
other tan plants, giving strong evidence of the adaptability of the Victorian climate for 
the growth of most of the tropical and sub-tropical vegetation employed in tanning. 
The growth of economic tan plants in Victoria would prove remunerative, and might 
occupy places on selections but little interfering with those crops needed for immediate 
wants. The sub-order Mimoseas, to which our wattles belong, is met with in all parts 
of the colony. A few species are too weak in tannin, such as A. Dealbata, for the 
tanner’s use, but other Acacias, non-indigenous, would thrive and be useful. The 
Acacia Arabica, or the Indian Gum Arabic Tree, supplies a fine tan bark and gives to 
leather a pale buff colour. This bark is used extensively in all the tanneries of India. 
The seeds, pods, and leaves are also employed as tan materials. Many of the Acacias, 
and others belonging to the natural order of Leguminosse, have legumes or pods in 
great abundance, varying in length from six to twenty-four inches, much sought after 
by the tanners. The Divi Divi, Ctesalpinia sp., is a great favourite with Indian 
tanners. The pod produces a bloom on leather, and it is asserted by these experts that, 
when the Victorian tanners use this article in fair proportion with wattle bark, a leather 
will be produced, both in substance, colour, and finish, superior to any produced by 
other tan materials. The Terminalia genus of the Combretaceas order produces many 
varieties of the Indian Plum Fruit, known to commerce under the name of 
“ Myrobolans,” which would thrive on the arid plains of Victoria. These elegant trees 
are met with on the hill districts and plains of Central India, several species grouping 
together, each kind varying in tan power and colour greatly, but all thrown together for 
the foreign market. It is this fact which so often disappoints the tanners of Victoria 
and elsewhere when employing Myrobolans for tanning purposes, and very often to the 
injury of the hides. 
The different kinds of Myrobolans, when in the soft plum condition, can be easily 
sorted, but after the pericarp has become dry and shrivelled there is great difficulty. 
The tan and colouring substances of the Myrobolan lies in this outer portion of the nut, 
and as there are eight species of true Myrobolans, and also two or three from another 
genus termed “ Emblic,” some of these containing but little tannin, the difficulty of 
knowing one from the other, when in a dry state, becomes almost insurmountable, 
but the leading outside appearances of the three best sorts may be given as a guide. 
T. Chebula. — From three-quarters to one and a quarter inch in length, having a broad 
base, fining off to a roundish point, five ribbed, well marked ; in colour either a light or 
dark brown, with yellow lines or spots. 
