Acacia farnesiana from Kud in Jammu & Kashmir

[Gurcharan Singh]

Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd., Sp. pl. 4(2): 1083, 1806

Common names: cassie, fragrant acacia, huisache, ironwood, opopanax, sweet acacia

Hindi: Vilayati kikar; Beng: Gaya babul; Mar: Kankar; Tam: Kadi vel; Bihar: Grabur

Shrub or small tree with zigzag branches; stipular spines in pairs; leaves bipinnate, pinnae 2-8, pinnules 10-20 pairs, linear-oblong; flowers in globose heads on long peduncle, yellow; pod 5-7 cm long, nearly cylindrical, slightly curved, brown and woody when mature.

Native of America, widely cultivated in tropics and subtropics. Flowers are source of cassie perfume; wood used for tent-pegs. Photographed between Kud and Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir on August 22.

--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/