Family : Fabaceae
Synonym: Acacia glaucescens Sensu Kaneh. & Hatus., non Willd.
Common Name: Australia Teak, Black Wattle, Hickory Wattle, Mangium
Flowering Period : February- May
Distribution : Asia, South America and Africa
Habitat : Cultivated
Uses: It is used as timber. Acacia mangium trees produce sapwood and heartwood. The heartwood's colour is brownish yellow shimmery and medium textured. Because the timber is extremely heavy, hard, very strong, tough, and not liable to warp and crack badly it is used for furniture, doors and window frames. The glossy and smooth surface finish after polishing leads also to a potential for making export-oriented parquet flooring tiles and artifacts.
Mangium has been recognized as an excellent source of short cellulose fibersfor papermaking. It is grown in plantations in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.
Key Characters: Acacia mangium is a fast-growing evergreen tree with a dense, spreading crown; it can grow from 25 - 35 metres tall. The bole is usually straight, often fluted near the base, free of branches for up to half its height and up to 60cm in diameter. Although it produces leaves as a seedling, llike most members of the genus the mature plant does not have true leaves but has leaf-like flattened stems called phyllodes. The tree is harvested from the wild for its wood, which is used locally and also traded. It is valued for its rapid growth and ability to grow on poor soils, and has been planted throughout the humid tropics and is a major plantation species in Asia. The tree is also grown as an ornamental in some area.