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ACACIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 97 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ACACIA , a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the See also:

family See also:Leguminosae and the sub-family Mimoseae. The small See also:flowers are arranged in rounded or elongated clusters. The leaves are See also:compound pinnate in See also:general (see fig.). In some instances, however, more especially in the Australian See also:species, the leaflets are suppressed and the See also:leaf-stalks become vertically flattened,and serve the purpose of leaves. The See also:vertical position protects the structure from the intense sunlight, as with their edges towards the See also:sky and See also:earth they do not intercept See also:light so fully as See also:ordinary horizontally placed leaves. There are about 450 species of acacia widely scattered over the warmer regions of the globe.. They abound in See also:Australia and See also:Africa. Various species yield See also:gum. True gum-arabic is the product of Acacia See also:Senegal, abundant in both See also:east and See also:west tropical Africa. Acacia ayabica is the gum-arabic See also:tree of See also:India, but yields a gum inferior to the true gum-arabic. An astringent See also:medicine, called See also:catechu (q.v.) or See also:cutch, is procured from several species, but more especially from Acacia catechu, by boiling down the See also:wood and evaporating the See also:solution so as to get an See also:extract. The bark of Acacia arabica, under the name of babul or babool, is used in Scinde for tanning: The bark of various Australian species, known as wattles, is also very See also:rich in See also:tannin and forms an important See also:article of export.

Such are Acacia pycnantha, See also:

golden wattle, A. decurrens, tan wattle, and A. dealbata, See also:silver wattle. The pods of Acacia nilotica, under the name of neb-neb, and of other See also:African species Acacia Senegal, flowering See also:branch, natural See also:size (after A. See also:Meyer and See also:Schumann). From Strasburger's Lehrbuch der Botanik. are also rich in tannin and used by tanners. The seeds of Acacia niopo are roasted and used as See also:snuff in See also:South See also:America. Some species afford valuable See also:timber; such are Acacia melanoxylon, See also:black wood of Australia, which attains a See also:great size; its wood is used for See also:furniture, and takes a high See also:polish ; and Acacia homalophylla (also Australian), myall wood, which yields a fragrant timber, used for ornamental purposes. Acacia See also:formosa supplies the valuable See also:Cuba timber called sabicu. Acacia seyal is supposed to be the shittah tree of the See also:Bible, which supplied shittim-wood. Acacia heterophylla, from See also:Mauritius and See also:Bourbon; and Acacia See also:hoe from the See also:Sandwich Islands are also See also:good timber trees. The See also:plants often See also:bear spines, especially those growing in arid districts in Australia or tropical and South Africa. These sometimes represent branches which have become See also:short, hard and pungent, or sometimes leaf-stipules.

Acacia armata is the See also:

kangaroo-See also:thorn of Australia, A. giraffae, the African See also:camel-thorn. In the Central See also:American Acacia sphaerocephala (See also:bull-thorn acacia) and A. spadicigera, the large thorn-like stipules are hollow and afford shelter for ants, which feed on a secretion of See also:honey on the leaf-stalk and curious See also:food-bodies at the tips of the leaflets; in return they protect the plant against leaf-cutting See also:insects. In See also:common See also:language the See also:term Acacia is often applied to species of the genus See also:Robinia (q.v.) which belongs also to the Leguminous family, but is placed in a different See also:section. Robinia Pseud-acacia, or false acacia, is cultivated in the milder parts of See also:Britain, and forms a large tree, with beautiful See also:pea-like blossoms. The tree is sometimes called the See also:locust tree.

End of Article: ACACIA

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