Botanical Name - Acacia latronum

----- A. latronum, Willd ; F.B.I. II-296. Brandi's Ind. Trees, 265. Gamble's Ind. Timbers, 299. Vern. Piki-tuma, Puki-tuma, Tel.

----- A gregarious, very thorny shrub or small tree. Bark dark-reddish-brown, very rough, vertically cleft, thorns of two kinds, one thin, solid, short and stout, and the other hollow, ivory white, 2 in. long, and 1/3 - 1/2 in. diam. at base. Leaves fasciculate on arrested branchlets; Pinnae 3-5 pairs, 3/4-1 in. long; leaflets 12-18 pairs, minute. Flowers fragrant white at first, turning yellow afterwards, in lax spikes 1 1/2-2 in. long. Pods thin, dehiscent, broadly falcate, obtuse at the ends, dark-brown, shining, 1 1/4-2 in. by 1/2 - 3/4 in.

----- Tolerably common in the Southern Districts, Amrabad and Nalgonda and in the Warangal District near the Kishna in the Jamlapoor Reserve. It has an umbrella-shaped habit of growth, the branches spreading horizontally and the stem scarcely reaching 6 ft. The thorns are very larghe, white, in pairs, hollow and often tenanted by black ants, which attacks intruders it forms a formidable and impenetrable scrub. The wood is very hard and of excellent quality, but small and only used for fuel and tent pegs.