Black / Hickory Wattle

Acacia mangium

No Local Name

An unmistakable cousin of more common earpod wattle (beng: akashmoni), single stemmed evergreen tree with a peculiar looking “leaf” (actually modified phyllode) with 3-5 longitudinal veins running straight on one side and curves on other.

Structure: Straight, mid-sized (much taller in its natural forest), the bole is almost 50% of the total height

Bark:  Greenish during first 2-3 year, after that the fissures start appearing. Bark in older trees is rough, hard, fissured with a pale brown inner-bark.

Leaves: (Like all Australian acacias, does not have true leaves, for all practical purpose the modifies phyllodes are the acting leaves) large up to 25 cm long and 3.5-10 cm broad 3-5 longitudinal veins running straight on one side and curves on other

Flower: composed of many tiny white or cream flowers in spikes

Fruit: Pods are broad, linear, and irregularly coiled (looks “worm-like” to me!). When ripe, they are brown, green before that.

Season: Flowers in Oct-Nov. Fruits ripe next year summer.

Distribution: Mostly Australia and a few islands of adjoining south-east Asia and Papua New Guinea. Introduced to India (and other tropical countries)

Trivia and notes: Among a few hyped “champion social forestry” species a few decades back but now  lost the hype.

Where to find: Only one tree in south east corner of the lake close to the tar road at the border of the football ground there.  22.51035N,88.36147E