DESCRIPTION: This group consists of about 1,000 species that are found in tropical and subtropical regions, especially in Australia and Africa. These evergreens should not be confused with the trees and shrubs commonly known as acacia, which belong to the group Robinia. These tender evergreens are totally different and are commonly known as Mimosas and Wattles. The Australian types are called Wattles because their lumber was used by early settlers in the wattle-and-daub method of building homes. The attractive leaves of these plants are usually bipinnate, giving them a feathery appearance. Some, however, are phyllodes; these are expanded, flattened leaf stems that carry out the same functions of true leaves. Wattles mostly bear flowers in the winter or spring. The tiny yellow flowers are produced in small, fluffy, round- or bottlebrush-shaped clusters. A. armata (Kangaroo Thorn) is a large, thorny, dense shrub with small, slender, dark green phyllodes. In the spring, the length of the branches are clothed with tons of yellow flowers. A. baileyana var. Purpurea is a large shrub or small tree with pretty, feathery leaves that are deep purple when young, contrasting beautifully with the older, blue-green leaves. A. pravissima (Ovens Wattle) forms a small tree or large shrub with blue-green, triangular phyllodes. Each phyllode is equipped with a single thorn on its under side. Tons of small clusters of yellow flowers are borne early in the spring. Some of these plants are valued for their timber such as A. homalophylla (Myall Wood), A. melanoxylon (Australian Blackwood), A. decurrens dealbata (Silver Wattle), and A. acuminata (Raspberry Jam Wood). The hard, durable wood from some is used in different countries for building purposes, making furniture, tool handles and much more. Some Acacias are valued for the tannin in their bark or wood. Gum Arabic is a gum that exudes from the stems and branches of A. nilotica; this plant is found wild in the dry areas of tropical Africa and India. This gum is used for dyeing and printing. A perfume is obtained from the flowers of A. Farnesiana. This plant is grown commercially in southern France.
VARIETIES
A. acinacea : GOLD DUST WATTLE. Shade light to filrered
A. adunca : WALLANGARRA WATTLE.
A. amblygona
A. aneura : MULGA; YARRAN.
A. armata ;
A. baileyana & var. Purpurea : COOTAMUNDRA WATTLE.
A. beckleri : BARRIER RANGE WATTLE.
A. binervata : TWO-VEINED HICKORY.
A. binervia : COASTAL MYALL.
A. boormanii : SNOWY RIVER WATTLE.
A. brachybotrya : GREY MULGA.
A. buxifolia : BOX-LEAF WATTLE.
A. calamifolia : WALLOWA.
A. cardiophylla : WYALONG WATTLE.
A. conferta : GOLDEN TOP.
A. cultriformis : KNIFE-LEAF WATTLE.
A. dealbata : SILVER WATTLE.
A. deanei : DEANS WATTLE.
A. decurrens : EARLY BLACK WATTLE, GREEN WATTLE.
A. drummondii : DRUMMONDS WATTLE.
A. elata : CEDAR WATTLE.
A. fimbriata : FRINGED WATTLE.
A. flexifolia : BENT LEAF WATTLE.
A. floribunda : WHITE SALLOW WATTLE.
A. glaucoptera : CALY WATTLE , FLAT WATTLE.
A. gracilifolia :
A. gunnii : PLOUGHSHARE WATTLE.
A. howittii : STICKY WATTLE.
A. hubbardiana.
A. iteaphylla : FLINDERS RANGE WATTLE.
A. lanuginoisa.
A. longifolia : SYDNEY GOLDEN WATTLE, SALLOW WATTLE.
A. melanoxylon : BLACKWOOD WATTLE.
A. mucronata;
A. myrtifolia : MYRTLE WATTLE
A. paradoxa : KANGAROO THORN
A. pendula : WEEPING MYALL; BOREE
A. perangusta : BRISBANE WATTLE
A. podalyriifolia : QUEENSLAND SILVER WATTLE
A. pravissima : OVENS WATTLE
A. prominens : GOLDEN RAIN WATTLE; GOSFORD WATTLE
A. pubescens : DOWNY WATTLE
A. pycnantha : GOLDEN WATTLE
A. retinodes :
A. riceana :
A. saligna : GOLDEN WREATH WATTLE
A. sophorae : COASTAL WATTLE
A. spectabilis : MUDGEE WATTLE
A.suaveolens : SWEET SCENTED WATTLE
A. terminalis : SUNSHINE WATTLE
A. triptera : SPUR-WING WATTLE
A. uncinata : WEEPING WATTLE
A. verniciflua : VARNISH WATTLE
A. vestita : HAIRY WATTLE
Acacia ( /əˈkeɪʃə/ or /əˈkeɪsiə/) is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not. They are pod-bearing, with sap and leaves typically bearing large amounts of tannins and condensed tannins that historically in many species found use as pharmaceuticals and preservatives.
The generic name derives from ακακία (akakia), the name given by early Greek botanist-physician Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90) to the medicinal tree A. nilotica in his book Materia Medica.[2] This name derives from the Greek word for its characteristic thorns, ακις (akis, thorn).[3] The species name nilotica was given by Linnaeus from this tree's best-known range along the Nile river.
Acacias are also known as thorntrees, whistling thorns or wattles, including the yellow-fever acacia and umbrella acacias.
Until 2005, there were thought to be roughly 1300 species of acacia worldwide, about 960 of them native to Australia, with the remainder spread around the tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, including Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and the Americas. However, the genus was then divided into five, with the name Acacia retained for the Australian species (and a few in tropical Asia, Madagascar and Pacific Islands), and most of the species outside Australia divided into Vachellia and Senegalia. The two final genera, Acaciella and Mariosousa, only contain about a dozen species from the Americas each.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
clade: Angiosperms
clade: Eudicots
clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Mimosoideae
Tribe: Acacieae
Genus: Acacia
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