Acacia


Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australia.
Controversy erupted in the early 2000s when it had become evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia was not closely related to the mainly African lineage that contained A. nilotica—the type species. This meant that the Australian lineage would need to be renamed. Botanist Les Pedley named this group Racosperma, which was inconsistently adopted. Australian botanists proposed that this would be more disruptive than setting a different type species and allowing this large number of species to remain Acacia, resulting in the two African lineages being renamed Vachellia and Senegalia, and the two New World lineages renamed Acaciella and Mariosousa. This was officially adopted, but many botanists from Africa and elsewhere disagreed that this was necessary.
A number of species have been introduced to various parts of the world, and two million hectares of commercial plantations have been established. The heterogeneous group varies considerably in habit, from mat-like subshrubs to canopy trees in forest.

Taxonomy

The genus was first validly named in 1754 by Philip Miller. In 1913 Nathaniel Lord Britton and Addison Brown selected Mimosa scorpioides = Acacia nilotica ), a species from Africa, as the lectotype of the name. The genus as recognized in 1986 contained 1352 species. That year however, Les Pedley published a paper in which he questioned the monophyletic nature of the genus, and proposed a split into three genera: Acacia sensu stricto, Senegalia and Racosperma, the last name first proposed in 1829 by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius as the name of a section in Acacia, but raised to generic rank in 1835. In 2003, Pedley published a paper with 834 new combinations in Racosperma for species, most of which were formerly placed in Acacia. All but 10 of these species are native to Australia, where it constitutes the largest plant genus.
In 2003, Anthony Orchard and Bruce Maslin filed a proposal to conserve the name Acacia with a different type in order to retain the Australasian group of species in the genus Acacia. Following a controversial decision to choose a new type for Acacia in 2005, the Australian component of Acacia s.l. now retains the name Acacia. At the 2011 International Botanical Congress held in Melbourne, the decision to use the name Acacia, rather than the proposed Racosperma for this genus, was upheld. Other Acacia s.l. taxa continue to be called Acacia by those who choose to consider the entire group as one genus.
Australian species of the genus Paraserianthes s.l. are deemed its closest relatives, particularly P. lophantha. The nearest relatives of Acacia and Paraserianthes s.l. in turn include the Australian and South East Asian genera Archidendron, Archidendropsis, Pararchidendron and Wallaceodendron, all of the tribe Ingeae.

Etymology

The origin of "wattle" may be an Old Teutonic word meaning "to weave". From around 700 A.D. watul was used in Old English to refer to the interwoven branches and sticks which formed fences, walls and roofs. Since about 1810 it refers to the Australian legumes that provide these branches.

Species

One species of Acacia is native to Madagascar, one to Reunion island, 12 to Asia, and the remaining species are native to Australasia and the Pacific Islands. These species were all given combinations by Pedley when he erected the genus Racosperma, hence Acacia pulchella, for example, became Racosperma pulchellum. However these were not upheld with the retypification of Acacia.

Evolution

Acacias in Australia probably evolved their fire resistance about 20 million years ago when fossilised charcoal deposits show a large increase, indicating that fire was a factor even then. With no major mountain ranges or rivers to prevent their spread, the wattles began to spread all over the continent as it dried and fires became more common. They began to form dry, open forests with species of the genera Allocasuarina, Eucalyptus and Callitris.
The southernmost species in the genus are Acacia dealbata, Acacia longifolia, Acacia mearnsii, and Acacia melanoxylon, reaching 43°30' S in Tasmania, Australia.

Fossil record

An Acacia-like 14 cm long fossil seed pod has been described from the Eocene of the Paris Basin. Acacia like fossil pods under the name Leguminocarpon are known from late Oligocene deposits at different sites in Hungary. Seed pod fossils of †Acacia parschlugiana and †Acacia cyclosperma are known from Tertiary deposits in Switzerland,. †Acacia colchica has been described from the Miocene of West Georgia. Pliocene fossil pollen of an Acacia sp. has been described from West Georgia and Abkhazia.
Oldest records of fossil Acacia pollen in Australia are from the late Oligocene epoch, 25 million years ago.

Distribution and habitat

They are present in all terrestrial habitats, including alpine settings, rainforests, woodlands, grasslands, coastal dunes and deserts. In drier woodlands or forest they are an important component of the understory. Elsewhere they may be dominant, as in the Brigalow Belt, Myall woodlands and the eremaean Mulga woodlands.
In Australia, Acacia forest is the second most common forest type after eucalypt forest, covering or 8% of total forest area. Acacia is also the nation’s largest genus of flowering plants with almost 1,000 species found.

Description

Several of its species bear vertically oriented phyllodes, which are green, broadened leaf petioles that function like leaf blades, an adaptation to hot climates and droughts. Some phyllodinous species have a colourful aril on the seed. A few species have cladodes rather than leaves.

Uses

have traditionally harvested the seeds of some species, to be ground into flour and eaten as a paste or baked into a cake. The seeds contain as much as 25% more protein than common cereals, and they store well for long periods due to the hard seed coats. In addition to utilizing the edible seed and gum, the people employed the timber for implements, weapons, fuel and musical instruments. A number of species, most notably A. mangium, A. mearnsii and A. saligna, are economically important and are widely planted globally for wood products, tannin, firewood and fodder. A. melanoxylon and A. aneura supply some of the most attractive timbers in the genus. Black wattle bark supported the tanning industries of several countries, and may supply tannins for production of waterproof adhesives.
Acacia is a common food source and host plant for butterflies of the genus Jalmenus. The imperial hairstreak, Jalmenus evagoras, feeds on at least 25 acacia species.
Wattle bark collected in Australia in the 19th century was exported to Europe where it was used in the tanning process. One ton of wattle or mimosa bark contained about of pure tannin.
In ancient Egypt, an ointment made from the ground leaves of an Acacia was used to treat hemorrhoids.
Acacia is repeatedly mentioned in the Book of Exodus, perhaps referring to Vachellia tortilis, in regards to the construction of the Tabernacle.
The hardened sap of various species of the acacia tree are known as acacia gum. Acacia gum is used as an emulsifier in food, a binder for watercolour painting, an additive to ceramic glazes, a binding in gum bichromate photography, a protective layer in the lithographic processes and as a binder to bind together fireworks.
Acacia honey is not collected from plants in the acacia family, but rather from Robinia pseudoacacia, known as black locust in North America. Honey collected from Caragana arborescens is sometimes also called acacia honey. See also Monofloral honey.

Cultivation

Some species of acacia - notably A. baileyana, A. dealbata and A. pravissima - are cultivated as ornamental garden plants. The 1889 publication 'Useful native plants of Australia' describes various uses for eating.

Toxicity

Some species of acacia contain psychoactive alkaloids, and some contain potassium fluoroacetate, a rodent poison.