Part III. ] R. S. Hole : Useful Exotics in Indian Forests. 
27 
variety. P. puiescens, Benth, is said to be “ sl tree 25—30 ft. high, with 
a slender trunk sometimes a foot in diameter * * wood heavy, 
exceedingly hard, close-grained, not strong, * * used as fuel and 
occasionally for fencing/'—(Prof. Sargent, l.c., p. 551.) This species, 
therefore, does not appear to be so valuable as P. juliflora. 
A gum, resembling gum-arabic, exudes from the stems of P. juliflora. <ium-arabic. 
The following report by Dr. Hooker probably refers to the gum 
of this species : “ Mesquit Gum. Mr. F. Kalteyer, treasurer of the 
Agricultural and Industrial Association of Western Texas, says the 
Mesquit Gum of that region is almost identical with gum-arabic, having 
been in use there for medicinal and technical purposes, especially in the 
preparation of mucilage, gum-drops, jujube-paste, etc. The past year it 
has become an article of export, some 12,000 lbs. having been gathered in 
Bexar country, and as much more between that and the coast /'—[Indian 
Forester , Yol. Y, p. 330.) 
The following extracts fromLaman's Ilortus Jamaicensis were sent to r>y e * 
India with the seed in 1877:— 
“ The dyers use the husk of the pods to dye black; they also soak 
some of the pods all night in water, then mix a little alum with it, 
and boil it to a due thickness which makes a very fine black and 
strong ink. I have often made it and wrote with it, and observed 
that it never fades or turns yellow, as copperas ink will. I carried 
some of the pods with me to England in 1717, and gave them to a 
dyer who tried them and said they exceeded galls for dyeing of linen, 
and if they would come as cheap, would be preferable." 
“ The planters made fences with it in the southern lone lands and Afforestation, 
savannahs ; but its seed dispersing about soon sprouted spontaneously, 
and now it overruns vast tracts of land, and maintains its ground so 
firmly that so long as the least particle of the root remains, it never 
ceases throwing up its thorny plants, while it is next to impossible 
to eradicate it entirely from a piece of land in which it has once 
flourished." 
This plant is a strongly xerophilous species, well adapted to thrive Summary, 
on dry soils and in arid districts. It is likely to be useful as a sand- 
binder and also as a pioneer in afforesting dry grasslands 1 and waste 
1 Unfortunately no definite information appears to be available, at present,', as to the 
plant’s ability to withstand frost which is a very important factor in many of our forest 
grasslands. 
[151] 
