ACACIA VERA— E GYPTI AN GUM-ARABIC ACACIA, OR EGYPTIAN THORN. 
Class XXIII. POLYGAMIA.— Order I. MONCECIA. 
Natural Order, LEGUMINOS^l. THE PEA TRIBE. 
This plant, which affords the finest Gum Arabic of commerce, was originally referred by Linneeus to the 
extensive genus Mimosa, under the title of Mimos Nilotica ; but it has been removed by Willdenow with 
other species to the genus Acacia. It is a native of the sandy deserts of Arabia, Egypt, and the western 
parts of Asia ; and, according to Mr. Jackson, grows abundantly in Barbary, and other parts of Africa. 
The original gum-arabic tree was known to the earlier botanists, and appears to have been cultivated by 
Gerarde in 1596 ; but few persons are acquainted with living, or even dried specimens especially of the 
legume. 
It rises several feet in height ; the stem is crooked, and covered with a smooth grey bark, which on the 
branches has a yellowish green, or purplish tinge. The leaves are alternate, bipinnate, composed of several 
pairs of opposite pinnee, with numerous pairs of small, deep green, smooth leaflets. At the base of the leaves 
are two opposite awl-shaped spines, nearly erect, and having a slight, glandular swelling below. The flowers 
are of a bright yellow colour, and collected into globular heads, four or five together, upon slender foot- 
stalks, that arise from the axillae of the leaves. Immediately below each head of flowers, is placed a pair of 
small, ovate bracteas. The calyx is bell-shaped and 5-parted ; the stamens are numerous, thread-like, and 
furnished with roundish, yellow anthers ; the germen is conical, with a slender style and simple stigma. The 
legumes are four or five inches long, moniliform, nearly flat, smooth, of a pale brown colour, and contracted 
into numerous orbicular portions, in each of which is lodged a flattish seed. This character, as a distinguished 
botanist justly observes, clearly distinguishes the present species from Acacia Arabica ; it being more strictly 
contracted into orbicular portions, with an obliquity well expressed in the wooden cut of Veslingius. 
The gum, says Mr. Jackson, called Morocco or Barbary gum, is produced from a high, thorny tree, 
called Atteleh, having leaves similar to the Avar, or Gum Sandrac tree, and the juniper. The best kind of 
Barhary gum is procured from the trees of Morocco, Ras-el-wed, in the province of Suse, and Bled-hum- 
mer, in the province of Abda : the secondary qualities are the produce of the Kedma, Duguella, and other 
provinces. The tree grows abundantly in the Atlas mountains, and is found also in Bled-eljerrede. The 
gum, when new, emits a faint smell, and when stowed in the warehouse, it is heard to crack spontaneously 
for several weeks ; and this cracking is the surest criterion of new gum, as it never does so when old : there 
is, however, scarcely any difference in the quality. The wood (of the tree) is hard and takes a good polish ; 
its seeds, which are enclosed in a hard, coriaceous pericarp, resemble those of the lupin, yield a reddish dye, 
and are used by the tanners in the preparation of leather. These seeds attract the goats, who are very fond 
of eating them. The more sickly the tree appears, the more gum it yields ; and the hotter the weather, the 
more prolific it is. A wet winter, and a cool, or mild summer, are unfavourable to gum. — (Jackson’s Hist, 
of Morocco, fol. 84.) 
The purest and finest gum-arabic is brought in caravans to Cairo, by the Arabs of the country round 
Mount Tor and Sinai ; they bring it from this distance on the backs of camels, sewn up in bags, and often 
adulterated with sand and other matters. The gum exudes spontaneously from the bark of the trunk and 
branches of the tree, in a soft, or nearly fluid state, and hardens by exposure to the air, or heat of the sun. 
It begins to flow in December, immediately after the rainy season, near the flowering time of the tree. 
Afterwards, as the weather becomes hotter, incisions are made through the bark to assist the transudation 
of the juice. All the gum that was employed in medicine, or the arts, was formerly brought from Arabia, 
or from Egypt, whence its name was derived ; and it was not till about two hundred years ago, that the 
gum of Senegal was introduced into commerce. That adventurous and persevering naturalist, Adanson, who 
explored the district of the river Senegal with so much assiduity, contributed to extend our knowledge of 
the trees from which the gum might be procured in the western parts of Africa ; and at present nearly the 
whole of what is imported into Europe comes from that country. 
Several kinds of gum, yielded by different trees, are occasionally to be met with, but that which is 
commonly substituted for it, as we have already observed, is brought from the island of Senegal, on the 
coast of Africa, and is called Gum Senegal. It is generally in larger masses, and is of a darker colour; is 
more tenacious, and breaks with a vitreous, even fracture. It is not so soluble in water as the true Gum 
Arabic, and leaves at the bottom a stringy substance. It is the sort chiefly employed by the calico-printers, 
but does not go so far in thickening water. In India, what is termed the Babul tree, (Acacia Arabica ,) 
furnishes a very fine gum, which is extensively employed in the place of Gum Arabic ; and Dr. Ainslie 
thinks that it is the same tree that is referred to by Dr. Wittman, in his Travels, (p. 231,) as yielding Gum 
Arabic in Turkey. It is in small clear masses, of a semi-transparent or very pale yellow colour ; but it is 
essential to have this gum well garbled in India ; and care should be taken that it is not intermixed with a 
