Acacia mangium, Wild.

Family: Leguminosae - Mimosoideae

General:

It is an exotic from Australia. It resembles Acacia C'MB auriculiformis except that the phyllodes are broader "" here. Grows on eroded, rocky, thin mineral soib

and also on deeply weathered or alluvial soils. It call 1 also thrive on acidic soil with pH as low as 4.5.

Flowering:

Yellow flowers in catkins appear in February-March.

The seed with spirally coiled aril

Fruiting: .

Fruit ripen in May to June.

Morphology of the Fruit/Seed:

Same as that of Acacia auriculiformis except that the seeds are more black and the aril on the top of the seed is more compressed, coiled and deep yellow in this case.

Seed Collection and Storage:

Pods are collected when they are brown at the end of dry season, dried in sun for 24 to 48 hours and then broken by turning for 10 minutes in a cement mixer with heavy wooden blocks. The seed retains 70-80% viability for several years if stored in sealed tin boxes.

Seed Biology:

No. of seeds per Kg.

Seeds per Kg. of ripe fruit
Moisture percent
Germina­tion percentage

No. of seedlings per Kg. of seed

Period of germination in days
80,000 to 1,10,000
90 gms.
6 to 8
70 to 80
60,000 to 80,000
3 days

Pretreatment:

10 parts of boiling water is added to I part of seed and allowed to stand for 30 seconds. Then the hot water is poured off and it is replaced by normal water and kept overnight for soaking.

Nursery Technique:

Pretreated seeds are broadcasted on primary beds and covered lightly with fine sand or pulverised soil. Seedlings are pricked out into polybags when the first pair of leaflets appear.