3914

5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Acacia in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Lond. Journ. Bot. 1: 377 (1842).

Racosperma auriculiforme (A. Cunn. ex Benth.) Pedley (1986).

Northern black wattle, Papua wattle (En). Indonesia: akasia (general), ki hia (Sundanese). Thailand: krathin-narong (Bangkok).

New Guinea, Kai Islands and Australia (Queensland and Northern Territory); also planted in plantations, and naturalized in western Malesia.

The wood is used as wattle, e.g. as poles for house building, for furniture and veneer; it is also employed for pulp and a useful firewood. The bark is collected locally as tanning material. The tree is also planted as an ornamental wayside tree, especially in western Malesia, for erosion control, and as a shade tree.

A medium-sized tree up to 20(—30) m tall, bole branchless for up to 12 m, up to 50 cm in diameter, bark surface deeply fissured, grey or dark grey, inner bark cream, branchlets angular; phyllodes curved or falcate, 10—16 cm (1.2—)1.5—2(—3) cm, 4—8(—10) times as long as wide, with 3 or 4 major longitudinal veins, secondary veins somewhat anastomosing; flowers in somewhat interrupted spikes, 5-merous, corolla 1.7—2 mm long; pod contorted, c. 6.5 cm 1—1.5(—2.5) cm, subwoody, with anastomosing venation. Acacia auriculiformis occurs in Eucalyptus savanna, is a main constituent of Acacia-Melaleuca woodlands, and is found on forest edges near swamps, in secondary growth, in monsoon forest, in grassland with Melaleuca spp., and is common in coastal savanna at the inner edge of mangrove, at 0—90 m altitude in New Guinea, but up to 400 m in Australia. The density of the wood is 490—840 kg/m³ at 15% moisture content.

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F. Arentz

Arentz, F., 1995. Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth.. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Soerianegara, I. and Wong, W.C. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea