| Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 1,507,271,208 visitors served. |
|
Dictionary/ thesaurus | Medical dictionary | Legal dictionary | Financial dictionary | Acronyms | Idioms | Encyclopedia | Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
acacia |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.02 sec. |
|
acacia (əkā`shə), any plant of the large leguminous genus Acacia, often thorny shrubs and trees of the family Leguminosae (pulse pulse, in botany, common name for members of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), a large plant family, called also the pea, or legume, family. Numbering about 650 genera and 17,000 species, the family is third largest, after the asters and the orchids. ..... Click the link for more information. family). Chiefly of the tropics and subtropics, they are cultivated for decorative and economic purposes. Acacias are characteristic of savanna vegetation and are especially numerous in the South African bushveld. The foliage often appears feathery because of the many small leaflets, but in some species leaflike flattened stems contain chlorophyll and take the place of leaves. Various Old World species (especially A. arabica and A. senegal ) yield gum arabic; other species, chiefly A. catechu, yield the dye catechu catechu (kăt`əch ..... Click the link for more information. . Blackwood (A. melanoxylon) is valued in Australia for its hardwood timber. Other members of the genus are valuable for lac lac, resinous exudation from the bodies of females of a species of scale insect (Tachardia lacca), from which shellac is prepared. India is the chief source of shellac, although some is obtained from other areas in Southeast Asia. ..... Click the link for more information. , for perfume and essential oils, and for tannins; some are used as ornamentals. The Australian acacias are commonly called wattles—their pliable branches were woven into the structure of the early wattle houses and fences—and Wattle Day celebrates the national flower at blossoming time. Many wattles are cultivated elsewhere, particularly in California, as ornamentals for their characteristic spherical, dense flowers. The Central American bullhorn acacias (e.g., A. sphaerocephala) have large hollow thorns inhabited by ants that are said to feed upon a sweet secretion of the plant and in turn guard it against leaf-eating insects. The most common acacia indigenous to the United States is the cat's-claw (A. gregii) of the arid Southwest. The biblical shittim wood shittim wood, in the Bible, wood of the shittah tree, probably an acacia , from which the Ark of the Covenant and furniture of the Tabernacle were made. The Revised Version of the Bible calls it acacia wood. It seems to have been held in high esteem. ..... Click the link for more information. is thought to have come from an acacia. Various species of locust are sometimes called acacia, and acacias may be called mimosa; all are of the same family. Acacia is classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta (măg'nōlēŏf`ətə) ..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae. acaciaAny of the approximately 800 species of trees and shrubs that make up the genus Acacia, of the mimosa family. Acacias are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the world, particularly Australia and Africa. Sweet acacia (A. farnesiana) is native to the southwestern U.S. Acacias have distinctive, finely divided leaflets, and their leafstalks may bear thorns or sharp spines at their base. Their small, often fragrant, yellow or white flowers have many stamens apiece, giving each a fuzzy appearance. On the plains of southern and eastern Africa, acacias are common features of the landscape. Several species are important economically, yielding substances such as gum arabic and tannin, as well as valuable timber. Acacia(Acacia Technologies, Lisle, IL) A former business unit of Computer Associates (CA) whose product line was sold to SSA Global Technologies, Inc. in 2002. Its primary products, PRMS, KBM and Warehouse BOSS continue to be offered as part of SSA's enterprise platform. acacia 1. any shrub or tree of the tropical and subtropical leguminous genus Acacia, having compound or reduced leaves and small yellow or white flowers in dense inflorescences 2. false acacia another name for locust 3. gum acacia another name for gum arabic acacia traditional symbol of friendship. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 172] See : Friendship How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
|
| ? Mentioned in | ? References in classic literature | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| And the poor soldier went to the acacia; but when he was a few steps from it, the countess looked at him, as if defying him, although a slight expression of fear seemed to flicker in her eye; then, with a single bound she sprang from the acacia to a laburnum, and thence to a Norway fir, where she darted from branch to branch with extraordinary agility. It had no park, but the pleasure-grounds were tolerably extensive; and like every other place of the same degree of importance, it had its open shrubbery, and closer wood walk, a road of smooth gravel winding round a plantation, led to the front, the lawn was dotted over with timber, the house itself was under the guardianship of the fir, the mountain-ash, and the acacia, and a thick screen of them altogether, interspersed with tall Lombardy poplars, shut out the offices. The water was quite free from reptiles, and the vegetation upon the banks of the river had altered to more open and parklike forest, with eucalyptus and acacia mingled with a scattering of tree ferns, as though two distinct periods of geologic time had overlapped and merged. |
| Encyclopedia |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Browser extension |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|---|