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3. Acacia cambagei
Botanical Name Acacia carnbageiR. T. Baker
Common Names gidgee, gidyea, gidya, stinking wattle
Legume Family, Leguminosae (Mimosoideae)
Gidgee, an Australian tree of very dry areas, is recognized by the grayish or
whitish, narrow, lance-shaped phyllodes with 1-3 main veins; tiny yellow
flowers in balls; long, narrow, flat, straight pods; and a very offensive odor,
especially during or with the approach of rain. The extremely heavy wood is
one of the world's hardest, heaviest timbers and burns with intense heat. It is a
fuelwood species for arid and semiarid regions. The scientific name honors
Richard Hind Cambage (1859-1928), mining surveyor and undersecretary for
mines, New South Wales. An enthusiastic botanist, he studied Acacia seed­
lings and collected specimens showing that this was a dstinct species.
"Gidgee" is the Australian aboriginal name.
Description Handsome small to medium-sized evergreen (?)tree to 10.12
in high, with straight trunk to 30 cm in diameter, and widespreading,
moderately dense crown of gray or whitish evil-smelling foliage; under ex­
treme conditions only 4 m high, with sparse open crown. Bark dark gray or
brown, rough, fibrous, somewhat flaky, deeply furrowed. Twigs slightly
drooping, angled, often with pressed hairs.
Leaves alternate, simple flattened phyllodes (modified leafstalks), lance­
shaped, straight or curved, 5-13 cm
long, 5-10 nun wide, about 6-16 times as
long as wide, flattened, thick and leathery, short-pointed, with 1-3 main veins
and many fine parallel veins not connected, becoming hairless, covered with
grayish-white bloom.
Flower clusters (heads) like balls, mostly 4-10 on stalks along axis (raceme)
to 3 cmilong or on separate stalks at leaf iase. Flowers 15-25, crowded, stalkless,
tiny, 3 mm long, yellow or orange, with unpleasant odor suggesting rotten
onions. Calyx 0.5 mm long with 5 blunt lobes hairy at tip; 5 narrow petals
more than 1 mm long, hairless or slightly hairy; many threadlike stamens 3
mm long; and pistil with hairy ovary and long slender style.
Pods (legumes) long and narrow, 8-13 cm long, 9-12 mn wide, flat, mostly
straight or curved, thin, with coarse
network of veins, hairless, thin-walled.
Seeds several, beanlike, elliptical, 8-9 mm long, on short thread.
Wood dark reddish or almost black, with pale yellow sapwood, extremely
hard and heavy (sp. gr. 1.31, very fine-textured, with interlocked grain, often
with rings and pretty markings; very durable and resistant to termites but
rather difficult to work.
Excellent firewood, burning completely green or dry, leaving thick whitish
or pale gray ash up to 90 percent lime (calcium oxidel. Because of intense heat
of burning, other wood is usually mixed with Acacia cambagei to avoid buckling
of firebars. Charcoal with high ash content.
ACACIA CAMBAGEI
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