Monday, March 10, 2008

Acacia auriculiformis

Acacia auriculiformis, commonly known as Auri, Earleaf acacia, Earpod wattle, Northern black wattle, Papuan wattle, Tan wattle, is a fast-growing, crooked, gnarly and thorny tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It grows up to 30m tall.
This plant is raised as an ornamental plant, as a shade tree and it is also raised on plantations for fuelwood throughout southeast Asia Oceana and in Sudan. Its wood is good for making paper, furniture and tools. It contains tannin usesful in animal hide tanning. In India, its wood and charcoal are widely used for fuel. Gum from the tree is sold commercially, but it is said not to be as useful as gum arabic.[1] The tree is used to make an analgesic by indigenous Australians. Extracts of Acacia auriculiformis heartwood inhibit fungi that attack wood.

While no pest or disease problems are reported in Indonesia, insects and nematodes have been reported to attack seedlings in Zanzibar. The rust Uromyces digitatus has been a problem in Java, where it is also occasionally infested with a rather inocuous black mildew, Meliola adenanphererae. In India, the root rots are Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma applanatum. Hypothenemus dimorphus has caused shoot fatality in Malaysia. The weevil Hypomeces squamosus can be a pest in India and Malaysia. Used to cultivate Kerria lacca in India. On Java, the ant Iridomyrmex rufoniger may protect the plant from some phytophagous insects.
Used for fuelwood plantations as an ornamental and shade tree, quite tolerant of heat, the Australian species is widely planted in Oceana and southeast Asia. The wood is also employed for making farm tools and furniture (NAS, 1983a). Recent Australian tests suggest that 10-year old trees can be pulped readily by the sulfate process, giving high pulp yields, with good strength properties. Also produces high quality pulp by the neutral sulfite semichemical process. The tannin produces a good quality leather, inclined to redden upon exposure to sunlight (NAS, 1980a). The plant is amazing in its ability to recolonize wastes, papermill sludge, pH ca 9.5; even uranium spoils, pH ca 3.0; the only tree found on 20-year old uranium spoil. Used for the cultivation of the lac insect in India.