Abelmoschus esculentus (L - the University of Maine at Fort Kent

Kermath, Bennett and Pulsipher - Food Plants in the Americs
ENGLISH: cassie flower, popinac, sponge tree, sweet acacia
PORTUGUESE: espinheiro, esponjinha
SPANISH: aromo, espino, espino blanco, guizache, huisache, huisache
dulce, huizache, pela, uña de cabra, vinorama
USES/NOTES: Young, green fruit pods (which become reddish-brown
when mature) may be eaten cooked, leaves are used as a seasoning
like tamarind (Tamarindus indica), and gum has been used as a
famine food. The small, thorny tree, cultivated by the early
1600s in Italy, is grown as an ornamental for its flowers,
delicate feathery leaves, and interesting form, and its fragrant,
yellow, round flowers are used in cassie perfume.
NATURAL RANGE: Neotropics perhaps to the southern U.S. (Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona, California, and Florida), though now widely
naturalized and invasive in places; previously considered to be
tropical African
REFERENCES: Adams 1972, Alcorn 1984, Duke n.d., Facciola 1990,
Godfrey 1988, Kermath (notes), Nelson 1994, Pereira and Aparecida
n.d., Poveda and Sánchez 1999, Sturtevant 1972, Taylor 1998,
Watkins and Sheehan 1975
Acacia greggii Gray
FAMILY: Fabaceae or Leguminosae subfam. Mimosoideae (bean or pea)
ENGLISH: catclaw, catclaw acacia, cat’s claw, cat’s paw, devil’s
claw, Gregg’s catclaw, paradise flower, Texas mimosa, wait-a-bit
tree, wait-a-minute tree
SPANISH: gatuño, tesota, uña de gato
USES/NOTES: Protein-rich pods and seeds are eaten raw or boiled.
Dried pods have been used as a flour source by Amerindians of
southwestern North America. Plant parts also contain prunasin a
poisonous cyanogenic glycoside.
NATURAL RANGE: Mexico and adjacent southwestern U.S. from Texas to
Utah, Nevada, and southern California
REFERENCES: Castetter and Underhill 1935, Chihuahuan Desert Museum
n.d., Clarke 1977, Ebeling 1985, Kirk 1970, Knight and Walter
2002, Uphof 1968, Yanovsky 1936
Acacia senegal (L.) Willd. [syn. A. verek Guill. & Perrottet,
Mimosa senegal L.] and A. nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Del. [syn. A.
arabica (Lam.) Willd.]
FAMILY: Fabaceae or Leguminosae subfam. Mimosoideae (bean or pea)
ENGLISH: acacia, babul, babul acacia, babul gum, Egyptian acacia
(A. nilotica), Egyptian mimosa (A. nilotica), Egyptian thorn (A.
nilotica), gum acacia, gum arabic, gum-arabic tree, kher,
Senegal-gum (A. senegal), Sudan gum-arabic
PORTUGUESE: acácia
SPANISH: acacia, goma arábica
USES/NOTES: Gum arabic, gum acacia, or babul gum, derived from the
sap of these drought-tolerant arborescent, woody legumes, is used
in confections, processed foods, adhesives, and pharmaceuticals.
Flowers and young pods are edible.
DRAFT - DO NOT DUPLICATE OR DISTRIBUTE
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