Botanical Name - Acacia farnesiana

----- A. Farnesiana, Willd.; F.B.I. II-292. Brandi's Ind. Trees. 263. Gamble's Ind. Timbers, 292. Vern. Gul-kikar, Gul-babul, Hind. Mar. Dewana-babul, Hind. Iri-babul, Mar. Murki-tuma, Tel.

----- A Thorny shrub or low tree, 12-15 ft. high. Bark light or dark-brown, rough; branches marked with grey dots, armed with stipular spines 1/4-1/2 in. long. Leaf-rachis 1 1/2-2 in. long, downy; Pinnae 4-8 pairs, 1-1 1/2 in. long. Leaflets 20-40 on each pinna, very small, rigid. Flowers bright-yellow, exceedingly sweet-scented, in globose fasciculate heads, 1/4-1/2 in. diam.; peduncles 1/2-3/4 in. long, slender, crowded in the axils of the leaves with a whorl of bracts at or near the apex . Pod 2-3 by 1/2 in., cylindrical, swollen, dark-brown, with a double row of seeds.

----- Introduced from America and cultivated but is now found growing quite wild throughout the Deccan and other parts of India, generally near villages and spreading sometimes to the outskirts of the forests. It is also cultivated in gardens for its flowers, from which a fine perfume is distilled and the tree exudes a considerable quantity of useful gum. Wood white, hard and close-grained. Weight about 50 lbs. per c. ft. It is used for fuel and the thorny branches for fencing. The juice of the leaves is said to be effective as a prophylactic for hydrophobia. Flowers in the cold season, January to March. Fruit in the hot weather ; remains long on the tree.