Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Vachellia nilotica (L.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb.

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

Habit : A medium-sized almost evergreen tree, straight or crooked, armed tree with dark-blackish-brown, irregularly, longitudinally fissured bark. Stem : Woody but upper portion herbaceous,aerial, erect, branched, solid, dark brown bark; a gum is secreted from the bark, gum Arabica. Leaves : Ramal and cauline, alternate, stipulate, stipules modified into ½ to 2" long straight, white thorns, petiolate, compound, bipinnate and paripinnate, pinnae 5-7 pairs, pinnules 10-20 pairs, sessile or subsessile, minute, ovate or oblong, entire, unicostate reticulate. Inflorescence : Axillary cymose head. Flowers : Flowers tiny, clustered together in bright-yellow, round heads. Bracteate, ebracteolate, sessile or subsessile, complete, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, hypogynous, pentamerous, yellow, very small. Calyx made up of 4 to 5 sepals, gamosepalous, campanulate, odd sepal anterior, valvate, minute in size. Corolla made up of 4 or 5 petals, gamopetalous, tubular, about double the size of the calyx, valvate, yellow. Androecium consists of many stamens, polyandrous, filaments filiform, longer than corolla, dithecous, basifixed, introrse, yellow. Gynoecium is monocarpellary, superior, unilocular, ovules many, marginal placentation, shortly stalked ovary, style long, stigma flat and minute. Fruits : A lomentum, pods linear-oblong, glaucous-green, jointed, joints nearly orbicular, compressed, minutely hairy. Seeds : Many, large, non-endospermic, brownish-black, oblong, compressed, smooth, glabrous. Flowering and Fruiting time : July - December Significance : The bark is a powerful astringent and used as a tan. The timber is hard and durable and extensively used for wheels, well-curbs and very largely as fuel. The wood is durable and resistant to termites. It is used as railway sleepers and as a high quality fuel. The gum obtained from stem is used in dysentery and is said to be used in diabetes mellitus. It is used by the calico-printer, and also forms a valuable tanning material. Tender leaves are used as blood purifier and used for cattle fodder. Medicinally tender leaves are given in diarrhea, or mixed with pomegranate juice in gonorrhea. The spines serve as fishing hooks and paper pins. Young twigs are used as "Datoon" for cleaning teeth. The fruit is a powerful astringent. The green pods, young shoots and leaves form an excellent fodder, and are especially valuable during the seasons of drought.