Botanical Name - Acacia catechu

----- A. Catechu, Willd. and Var. A. Sundra, DC. ; F.B.I. II-295. Brandi's Ind. Trees, 267. Gambles Ind. Timbers. 296. Vern. Khair, Hind. Mar. Sundra, Nalla sundra, Tel.

----- A moderate-sized gregarious, thorny, deciduous tree. Stipular spines in pairs short and recurved, shiny-brown or nearly black. Bark dark grey, or greyish-brown, rough, exfoliating in long narrow strips. Leaves 4-7 in. long; rachis 3-4 in. long, often armed with scattered prickles, glabrous (A Sundra) or pubescent (ACatechu), and with 4 or 5 basal glands ; Piannae 10-20 pairs, 1-1 1/2 in. long. Leaflets 30-50 pairs on each pinna, linear, imbricate glabrous of pubescent, under 1/4 in. long, turning brown in drying. Flowers pale yellow in cylindrical spikes; Calyx and Petals hairy pubescent in A.Catechu, glabrous in A.Sundra, the letter 3 times the length, of the calyx. Pods thin, brown, shining, dehiscent, 5-6 seeded.

----- Common in most parts, but generally grows stunted, The tree is best known for its astringent products "Cutch" and "Katha" (catechu), which is regularly axtracted in Northern India and Burma, by boiling the wood-chips and the extract is collected as a sediment and dried; the latter, "Katha," is produced under careful preparation and by selecting the chips of wood which have much white substance in the pores, in the form of a plae pink biscuit-like substance and is used for chewing with betel. "Cutch" is a black shining extract and used as a tanning material. The system of preparation is not so careful. Three varieties of the tree are recognised in India, distinguished as, (1) A. Catechu, Willd., (2) A. Catechuoides, Wall., (3) A. Sundra DC.; and while the last is represented most commonly in the Hyderabad (Deccan) forests and A.Catechu is also met with, the tree is only valued for its timber, and the valuable products, catechu and katha is very recently extracted from it. the wood is very hard; sap-wood yellowish-white; heartwood either dark or light-red; the pores of the wood are frequently filled with a white substance and are distinctly marked on a longitudinal section. It is heavy, close-grained and tough, and polishes well, possesses great strength and durability. It resists the attacks of insects and is employed as posts and uprights of houses, for agricultural implements, such as the shafts of ploughs, pestles for husking grain, sugar and oil mills, the rollers of hand cotton-gins and it also makes excellent fire-wood and charcoal. The bark is sometims used for tanning. The weight of the wood varies considerably, the average, according to Gamble, being about 65 lbs. per c. ft. Flowers during the rains. Fruits in the cold weather, remaining long on the tree after ripening. The tree is easily propagated from seed, and coppies well. It is a suitable species for afforesting dry story areas.