Acacia ferruginea, DC.

Family: Leguminosae - Mimosoideae

Telugu Name: Inupa Tumma, An-sandra

 General:

Commonly found in dry deciduous forest. Identified by rough, grey bark cracking into oblong pieces; small, lightly curved twin intrastipular prickles; rachis of the leaf grooved with a large gland on the petiole and pale yellow flowers in axillary spikes. The growth of this species is very slow except in rich soils of a porous nature.

Flowering:

Flowers appear in April-May, by which time the tree is leafless.

Fruiting:

Fruits ripen from November-February.

Morphology of the Fruit/Seed:

Pod 8 to 18 cms long and 2 cms broad; dark brown, glabrous, reticulately veined, 4 to 7 seeded and tardily dehiscent.

Seed Collection and Storage:

Seed is available for collection from December-April. Ripe pods are collected from the trees, dried and seeds extracted, cleaned and stored. Storage is best effected in earthen pots. Viability is retained for 12 to 16 months.

Seed Biology:

Pretreatment:

Not required.

Nursery Technique:

Two seeds in each polythene bag is sown in January, watered and weeded. Germination starts within IO to 12 days. Larger seeds show better germinative capacity than smaller ones. Since the growth is very slow, 18 months old seedlings are planted in the field.