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Acacia seyal var. Seyal

Overview

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The wood is light, and has been used for packing cases, light furniture, fuel, saddle frames and tent poles in the Sahel, however is susceptible to termites and rot. Bark contains around 18-20% tannin, and is used for tanning leather in Sudan. The bast yields a fibre. Roots are woven into baskets. A bark decoction is used by the Peuhl for both man and cattle, and in Sudan a root decoction as a vermifuge. It is a source of a red dye and used for making paints and ink. Its gum (gum talha now also marketed as gum arabic) is edible. A tea like beverage is prepared from the bark. The wood smoke is reputed to be an insect repellent, and Sudanese women fumigate themselves with it. The Mbeere use the thorny branches as livestock pens or bomas. Occasionally planted as a shade tree in the Sahel. Its foliage , pods and bark are eaten by animals.

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Subfamily Mimosoideae

Mostly trees or shrubs . Leaves mostly bipinnate. Corolla usually not showy, actinomorphic , sympetalous , the lobes valvate . Stamens 10-numerous, often monadelphous , showy. Pollen released in monads , tetrads , or polyads . Seeds with u-shaped line (pleurogram) present. [Carr]

Genus Acacia

Trees , shrubs , rarely herbs, often prickly or spinose . Leaves bipinnate; leaflets small and numerous or leaves reduced to phyllodes; petiolar glands often present; stipules generally spinescent . Inflorescence cylindric spike or globose head ; peduncle solitary axillary or fasciculate or paniculate at the end of branches; bracts often two, scale like, situated on the peduncle at various levels. Flowers small, 3-5-merous, bisexual or plants polygamous. Calyx campanulate , dentate , lobed or polysepalous . Petals usually more or less united , rarely absent. Stamens indefinite, free or shortly and irregularly connate at the base ; anthers small, eglandular . Ovary sessile or stipitate , with 2 or more ovules. Fruit ovate to linear , straight, arcuate or contorted, membranous to woody, rarely articulated or moniliform . Seed large, with a filiform funicle or fleshy aril.

A genus with about 900 species; distributed mainly in tropics and subtropics, especially in Africa and Australia.[1]

Physical Description

Species Acacia seyal var. Seyal

Usually medium sized trees to 10 m high, they have been recorded to 17 m in Sudan, with a spreading crown. It has distinctive smooth powdery bark , from white to greenish yellow or orange red, with a green layer beneath . In some populations both red and yellow barked individuals can be found. The species is divided into a variety which has inflated pseudo galls (var. fistula ) and the type were they are abscent. A widespread species, it is gregarious on dry cracking clay soils along watercourses in woodland and grass savannas , or in woodlands on stony ground with dark clay loams. Like its related species, A. hockii and A. zanzibarica it has falcate pods and bright yellow flowers in a globose inflorescence.

Taxonomy

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Notes

Common names : Chad: Tala (Arabic); Kenya: Ale (Luo), Kinyua (Kamba), Kisewa (Kamba), Muaa (Kamba), Munyua (Kamba), Olerai (Masai), Olmonyuonyooy (Masai), Rena (Pokot), Wacchu (Boran), Wachodima (Boran); Nigeria: Dushe (Hausa), Dussa (Hausa), Farankiya (Hausa); Sudan: Talh (Arabic); Tanzania: Honyawaend (Tatoa), Kasamele (Kitongwe), Laray Lanay (Masai), Lerai (Masai), Munguga (Kiswahil), Olerai (Masai).

Name verified on 21-Sep-1987 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 15-Sep-2004

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Acacia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 497 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. abyssinica (Nyanga Flat-Top) · A. acanthoclada (Harrow Wattle) · A. acanthoclada var. glaucescens (Harrow Wattle) · A. acinacea (Gold Dust Wattle) · A. aculeaticarpa (Catclaw Mimosa) · A. aculeatissima (Thin-Leaf Wattle) · A. acuminata (Raspberry Jam) · A. acuminata acuminata (Raspberry Jam) · A. adunca (Wallangarra Wattle) · A. alata (Winged Wattle) · A. albicorticata (Aromo) · A. albizioides (Climbing Wattle) · A. alpina (Alpine Wattle) · A. amblygona (Fan Wattle) · A. amoena (Boomerang Wattle) · A. ampliceps (Acacia) · A. ancistrophylla var. lissophylla (Dwarf Myall) · A. anegadensis (Blackbrush Wattle) · A. aneura (Mulga) · A. angustissima (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. angustissima (Prairie Acacia) · A. angustissima var. chisosiana (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. hirta (Prairie Acacia) · A. angustissima var. shrevei (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. suffrutescens (Carboncillo) · A. angustissima var. texensis (Carboncillo) · A. anomala (Chittering Grass Wattle) · A. anthochaera (Kimberly's Wattle) · A. aphylla (Leafless Rock Wattle) · A. applanata (Grass Wattle) · A. araneosa (Balcanoona Wattle) · A. argutifolia (East Barrens Wattle) · A. argyrodendron (Blackwood) · A. argyrophylla (Silver Mulga) · A. aroma (Aromita) · A. aroma var. huarango (Aromita) · A. aspera (Rough Wattle) · A. atramentaria (Brea) · A. aulacocarpa (New Guinea Wattle) · A. auricoma (Nyalpilintji Wattle) · A. auriculiformis (Auri) · A. auripila (Rudall River Myall) · A. ausfeldii (Whipstick Cinnamon Wattle) · A. baeuerlenii (Wattle Shrub) · A. baileyana (Bailey Acacia) · A. baileyana 'Purpurea' (Baileys Purple Acacia) · A. bakeri (Baker's Wattle) · A. balsamea (Balsam Wattle) · A. barakulensis (Waaje Wattle) · A. barattensis (Baratta Wattle) · A. barringtonensis (Barrington Wattle) · A. basedowii (Basedow's Wattle) · A. baueri (Tiny Wattle) · A. baxteri (Baxter's Wattle) · A. beckleri (Barrier Range Wattle) · A. berlandieri (Berlandier Acacia) · A. betchei (Red-Tip Wattle) · A. bidwillii (Corkwood Wattle) · A. biflora (Two-Flowered Acacia) · A. binervata (Two-Veined Hickory) · A. binervia (Coast Myall) · A. bivenosa (Two Nerved Wattle) · A. blaxellii (Blaxell's Wattle) · A. boormanii (Snowy River Wattle) · A. borleae (Sticky Acacia) · A. brachybotrya (Grey Mulga) · A. brevispica dregeana (Prickly Thorn) · A. browniana (Brown's Wattle) · A. brownii (Heath Wattle) · A. brunioides (Brown Wattle) · A. burbidgeae (Burbidge's Wattle) · A. burrowii (Burrow's Wattle) · A. buxifolia (Box-Leaved Wattle) · A. buxifolia buxifolia (Box-Leaved Wattle) · A. buxifolia pubiflora (Box-Leaved Wattle) · A. bynoeana (Bynoe's Wattle) · A. caerulescens (Buchan Blue Wattle) · A. caesiella (Blue Bush) · A. caffra (Cat Thorn) · A. calamifolia (Wallowa) · A. calcicola (Northern Myall) · A. cambagei (Stinking Wattle) · A. cana (Broad-Leaved Nealie) · A. cardiophylla (West Wyalong Wattle) · A. carneorum (Purple-Wood Wattle) · A. catechu (Black Cutch) · A. catechu var. oligosperma (Black Catechu) · A. catechu var. sundra (Cutch Tree) · A. caven (Aromita) · A. caven var. caven (Roman-Cassie) · A. celastrifolia (Celastrus-Leaved Acacia) · A. centralis (Guache) · A. chalkeri (Chalker's Wattle) · A. cheelii (Motherumbah) · A. chinchillensis (Chinchilla Wattle) · A. chippendalei (Chippendale's Wattle) · A. chisholmii (Chisholm's Wattle) · A. choriophylla (Cinnecord) · A. chundra (Red Cutch) · A. citrinoviridis (River Jam)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. "Acacia". in Flora of Pakistan. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-07-18