e-Flora of Thailand

Volume 4 > Part 2 > Year 1985 > Page 163 > Leguminosae-Mimosoideae > Acacia

5. Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd.wfo-0000195712

Sp. Pl. 4: 1083. 1806; Benth., Trans. Linn. Soc. 30: 502. 1875; Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 43 (2): 297. 1876; Fl. Burm. 1: 420. 1877; Bak. in Fl. Br. Ind. 2: 292. 1878; Prain in King, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 69 (2): 248. 1897; Gaguep. in Fl. Gén. I.-C. 2: 78. 1913; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 1: 656. 1922; Craib in Fl. Siam. En. l: 548. 1928; Nielsen in Fl. C.L.V. 19: 44. Pl. 6, 1–8. 1981.— Mimosa farnesiana L., Sp. PL: 521. 1753; Lour., Fl. Cochinch.: 652. 1790. Fig. 37: 1–8.


Accepted Name : Vachellia farnesiana (L.) Wight & Arn.
Prodr. Fl. Ind. Orient.: 272. 1834; Wight, lc. 1: Pl. 300. 1840.


Description : Deciduous shrub up to ca 4 m high; branchlets glabrous, brown-grey; stipular spines up to ca 3 cm, straight; leaves, lateral branches and peduncles often crowded on short-shoots. Leaves: rachis ca 4–6 cm; petiole 1–1.3 cm, gland in the upper half of the petiole, ca 0.8 cm above the base; rachis-glands not observed; pinnae 2–7 pairs, 1.5–3 cm long; leaflets opposite, sessile ca 10–21 pairs, 2–7 by 0.8–1.8 mm, oblong; base truncate, apex asymmetrically acute, mucronate; both surfaces glabrous; main vein excentric, lateral veins conspicuous, raised beneath. Inflorescence: peduncles axillary up to ca 5 together, 2.5–3.5 mm, bearing the involucel apically, just below the flowering head; heads of sessile flowers each subtended by ca 1 mm, spathulate, hairy bracts. Calyx ca 1.3 mm, tube glabrous; teeth 5, ca 0.2 mm, triangular, acute, glabrous. Corolla ca 2.5 mm, tube glabrous; lobes 5, ca 0.5 mm, elliptic, acute. Stamens numerous. Ovary ca 1.5 mm, subsessile, densely puberulous. Pods ca 1–2 cm diam, 4–7.5 cm long, straight or slightly curved, subterete and turgid, dark-brown to blackish, chartaceous, glabrous; veins and marks over the seeds inconspicuous; indehiscent. Seeds 7–8 by 5.5 mm, elliptic, only slightly compressed; pleurogram 6.5–7 by 4 mm, elliptic.


Thailand : Introduced and naturalized.


Distribution : Pantropical, origin uncertain, probably S America.


Ecology : Spontaneous in inundated localities.


Vernacular : Krathin thet (กระถินเทศ), krathin hom (กระถินหอม)(Central);kham tai (คำไต้), dok kham tai (ดอกคำใต้)(Northern).


CommonName : Sponge Tree.


Uses: Perfume is extracted from the flowers. The pods are used for tanning. Cultivated as an ornamental.


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Figure 37
Rachun Pooma (Sam Roi Yot, Prachuap Khiri Khan)
Rachun Pooma (Sam Roi Yot, Prachuap Khiri Khan)