Botanical Name - Acacia arabica

----- A. arabica, Wilid. ; F.B.I. II-293. Brandis' Ind. Trees, 264. Gamble's Ind. Timbers, 292. Vern. Babul, Ramkanta, Hind. Mar. Kali-kikar, Hind. Nalla tuma, Tel. The Babul tree.

----- A moderate-sized or large tree with a large spreading crown. Bark dark-brown black, rough, much fissured ; spines 1/4-2 in. long, white, smooth, sharply pointed. Leaves 1-2 in. long ; rachis and pinnae downy ; pinnae 3-6 pairs, 1/2-1 in. long, with several cup shaped glands at the base of the lowest, generally also of the uppermost pairs. Leaflets 10-20 pairs, 1/10 -1/5 in. long, linear, glabrous. Flowers yellow, fragrant, in axillary globose heads which are about 1/2-in. diam, ; peduncles in fascicles of 3-5, short, slenders, grey-downy, with a whorl of bracts above the middle. Pod generally solitary, 4-6 by 1/2 - 5/8 in. 8-12 seeded, stalked, convex, rather fleshy, much contracted between the seeds at both sutures, densely grey-downy, tardily dehiscent.

----- This tree is met with in varying abundance throughout Hyderabad, flourishing on dry arid plains and specially on black cotton soil where other trees are rarely met with. It is probably indigenous, but does not grow in close mixed forest. It is usually gregarious in patches of greater or less extent or else scattered in single trees or small groups. The Babul is a very important tree, and especially throughout the greater portions of the Maratwada country of Aurangabad and also in the Bhir, Gulbarga, Raichure and Beder districts, it constitutes almost the only natural tree-growth found on the extensive plains of black cotton soil. It is also frequently cultivated, and a common practices is to pen goats which have been fed on the pods, on the area to be shown up; the seeds pass undigested and in a better condition for germination. Numerous "Babul-Bans" have also been planted by the Forest Dept, in most of the above mentioned districts. The Babul does not grow to a very large size, but instances of very quick growth are also known, reraching to 2 ft. girth in less than 7 years and 4 ft. in under 15 years (Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts). Thsi is very fast, but in the drier parts of the country in growth rate of girth is only about 5 rings per inch of radius.

----- The wood is hard, weighing about 54 lbs. per c. ft.; sap-wood large whitish, heartwood pinkish-white, turning reddish-brown on exposure mottled with dark streaks. It is much used for carts, mills and sugar-cane rolloers for plough-shares and other agricultural implements, the spokes, naves and felloes of wheels and in house-building for posts and rafters, door and window-frames etc. It is also used in carriage-building where strong construction is necessary, e.g., the well-known Ahmednagar Tongas are entirely built of this wood. It is also a good fuel and the thorny branches are used for fencing. Among its other useful products may be mentioned its gum, bark and pods, the last being extensively used for feeding sheep and goats. The bark is very largely employed as a tanning material and it is also used in dying cloth various shades of brown. In native medicinal practice the bark is used internally as a tonic and astringent; in decoction, as a wash for ulcers, and finely powdered and mixed with gingelly oil externally, in cancerous affection. The Babul yeilds an abundance of transparent gum which flows out from incisions or fissures in the bark and hardens in lumps. It is similar to gum Arabic and is largely collected and used in native medicine and in dyeing and cloth printing. Two other varieties of the Babul are also well-known, Viz., the "Ramkanta" and "Eri" Babul. Both are common in the plains about Aurangabad and also occasionally seen throughout the Deccan. The first is distinguished by its straight stem and fastigiate branches, closing up to the trunk, and in general appearance resembling that of gigantic broom. The wood is quite equal to that of the common Babul. The second variety is distinguishable from the first by its more horizontal mode of branching the smaller branches long and streched out, the side branches from them giving off at right angles nearly. The bark is also much more reticulated, broken and corky than that of the other. The wood is very inferior as regards its used for agricultural implements, house-building, etc. The pod of the secong variety also is much broader-margined and very partially moniliform, and can be at once distinguished from that of the other two which is so contracted between each seed as to be nearly severed. The pods and young branches of all three varieties of the Babul from important articles of food for sheep, goats and cattle from February to the beginning of the rains.