FoI
Tomentose Babool
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Tomentose Babool
ative Photo: Dinesh Valke
Common name: Tomentose Babool, black piquant, black babul, gum arabic, Egyptian mimosa, Egyptian thorn, prickly acacia, Nile acacia, scented thorn, scented-pod acacia • Hindi: बबूल babool, कीकर kikar • Manipuri: চিগোঙ লৈ Chigong lei • Marathi: बाभूळ babhul, बाभळी babhali, बाभळ babhal, देवबाभळ devababhal, पुळाटी pulati, रामबाभळ ramababhal, रामकांटी ramakanti • Tamil: கறுவேளை karuvelai • Malayalam: കരിവേലം karivelam • Telugu: నల్లతుమ్మ nalla tumma • Kannada: ಗೊಬ್ಳಿ ಮರ gobli mara, ಕರಿಜಾಲಿ karijaali • Bengali: বাবলা babala • Konkani: बाबुळ babul • Gujarati: બાવળ baval, બાવળિયો bavaliyo • Sanskrit: बब्बुल babbul, बब्बूलः babbulaha, पङ्क्तिः panktiha, सोमवृक्ष somavriksha, तीक्ष्ण कण्टक tikshna kantaka, वर्वू varvu, वर्वुरः varvrurha, युग्मकण्ट yugmakanta
Botanical name: Vachellia nilotica subsp. tomentosa    Family: Mimosaceae (Touch-me-not family)
Synonyms: Acacia arabica, Acacia arabica var. tomentosa

Tomentose Babool is a very abundant subspecies in India and Pakistan, is also widespread in part of Africa. It is most often found on alluvial soils that are periodically flooded, sandy-clays and non-saline clay soils. It is resistant to temporary flooding and can grow in waterlogged soils for long periods. Unlike Babool, Tomentose Babool may be thorny when the tree is young, but at maturity the tree has few spines. The characteristic of the tree is densely tomentose, white pods which are deeply constricted between the seeds to make it look like a beaded necklace. Flowers are tiny yellow powder-puffs, occuring in clusters. The leaves are twice compound, i.e. they consist of 5-11 feather-like pairs of pinnae; each pinna is further divided into 7-25 pairs of small, elliptic leaflets.

Identification credit: Dinesh Valke Photographed at Vaghbil, Thane, Maharashtra.

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