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Acacia polyacantha
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Mimosoideae)
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Citation: Acacia polyacantha Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 1079. 1806.
Mimosa suma Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 563. 1832.
Acacia suma (Roxb.) Buch.-Ham. ex J. Voigt, Hort. Subsurb. Calc. 260. 1845; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 294. 1878; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 427(303). 1919.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Venkaringali, Somarayatholi
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
White cutch tree, White catechu
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Description:
Trees, to 15 m high, bark yellowish-grey, peels off in thin papery flakes; blaze pink red; branchlets yellow-pubescent; stipular spines infra-axillary, 8-10 mm long, paired, straight or hooked, occasionally lacking on flowering branches. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; rachis 4-20 cm long, slender, pubescent, softly prickled, pulvinate; a gland at the base on upper side; pinnae 15-25 pairs, 4-5 cm long, slender, pubescent; glands between uppermost 4 pairs; leaflets 30-50, opposite, sessile; lamina 5-7 × 0.5-1 mm, densely pubescent, chartaceous, base truncate, apex subacute or obtuse, margin ciliate; midrib near distal margin, lateral nerves and intercostae obscure. Flowers bisexual, 4 mm across, white, in axillary solitary or paired spikes, to 8 cm; peduncle to 1 cm; bracts to 6 mm; bracteoles cauducous; calyx 5-lobed, to 1.5 mm, tomentose; corolla to 3 mm long; lobes 5; stamens many, to 4 mm, basally connate; ovary stipitate, oblong, to 1 mm; style to 4 mm. Fruit a pod, stipitate, 8 ×1.5 cm, glabrous, grey, woody, oblong, base and apex horned; seeds 5-8.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
June-September
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District(s):
Palakkad
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
India and Sri Lanka
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Creamy, White
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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