acacia
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acacia
acacia
Acacia
genus of mostly woody plants of the family Mimosaceae. About 750 tropical and subtropical species are found in both hemispheres but mostly (over 50 percent) in Australia, where it is the national emblem, and in Africa.
Acacia leaves are bipinnate, generally with numerous tiny leaves. In many species, chiefly Australian, the leaf blade fails to develop completely or partly, in which case the expanded petiole (the so-called phyllode) fulfills the function of photosynthesis. Other acacias are characterized by the presence of stipules changed into spines. In the American species A. sphaerocephala and A. costaricensis, in the African species A. drepanolobium, and in some others, the spines are very large and infested with ants. Acacia usually has small yellow or white flowers noticeable chiefly because of the numerous stamens protruding far from the corolla; these flowers are in dense clusters or spiciform inflorescences which are arranged, in turn, in a compound, mostly paniculate inflorescence. The fruit is a bicuspid or indehiscent pod. Acacia with an umbellate crown is a characteristic landscape element of African savannas. Many species are of considerable economic importance. Some are rapidly growing trees, and others produce valuable wood—for example, the Australian A. melanoxylon. The finest gum arabic comes from, A. Senegal and other species. The tanning agent catechu is extracted from the wood of A. catechu. A. dealbata is cultivated in the south as an ornamental plant. Cut flowering branches (so-called mimosa) are brought into cities of the temperate zone from January to March. A tree of the genus Albizzia is known as the silk acacia. “White” or “false” acacia is the name of a tree of the genus Robinia. Yellow acacia (pea tree) is a shrub of the genus Caragana.
REFERENCES
Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR. Moscow-Leningrad, 1958.Willis, J. C. A Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns, 7th ed. Cambridge, 1966.
Uphof, J. C. T. Dictionary of Economic Plants, 2nd ed. Würzburg, 1968.
M. E. KIRPICHNIKOV
gum arabic, acacia, gum acacia
acacia
acacia
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 were folded at that time into SSA's enterprise platform.Acacia was created primarily from CA's acquisition of Pansophic Systems in 1991, and in 1999, CA merged Acacia with the MK Group to become the interBiz Supply Chain Group within the interBiz Solution division of the company. SSA acquired the supply chain management, financial management and human resource management product lines of interBiz, which made up the eBusiness applications division of CA. SSA itself was purchased in 2006 by Infor (www.infor.com). See PRMS.