Acacia implexa
Acacia implexa
Safety & Hazards
Stock deaths have been caused by ingestion of green pods[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. ]. The bark contains high levels of tannins and saponins and was traditionally used as a fish poisin to stun fish so that they could be captured for eating[ 1301 Title Acacia Search; Evaluation of Acacia as a woody crop option for Southern Australia Publication Author Maslin B.R. & McDonald M.W. Publisher Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation; Western A Year 2004 ISBN 0642 58585 7 Description ]. Although poisonous, saponins also have a range of medicinal applications and many saponin-rich plants are used in herbalism (particularly as emetics, expectorants and febrifuges) or as sources of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Saponins are also found in a number of common foods, such as many beans. Saponins have a quite bitter flavour and are in general poorly absorbed by the human body, so most pass through without harm. They can be removed by carefully leaching in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of raw foods that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to many cold-blooded creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish and make them easy to catch[ K Title Plants for a Future Author Ken Fern Description Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips. ]. Especially in times of drought, many Acacia species can concentrate high levels of the toxin Hydrogen cyanide in their foliage, making them dangerous for herbivores to eat.
Botanical Description
Acacia implexa is an evergreen tree that can grow from 3 - 12 metres tall, reaching 15 metres on selected sites. The trunk sometimes divides into two either near the ground or at about 2 metres; each bole can be 15 - 40cm in diameter, exceptionally to 60cm. The plant often suckers and can form clumps of growth[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. , 601 Title The Useful Native Plants of Australia. Publication Author Maiden J.H. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Turner & Co.; London. Year 1889 ISBN Description Terse details of the uses of many Australian plants and other species naturalised, or at least growing, in Australia. It can be downloaded from the Internet. , 1301 Title Acacia Search; Evaluation of Acacia as a woody crop option for Southern Australia Publication Author Maslin B.R. & McDonald M.W. Publisher Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation; Western A Year 2004 ISBN 0642 58585 7 Description ]. Although it produces true leaves as a seedling, and also as a yound plant, llike most members of this section of the genus, the mature plant does not have true leaves but has leaf-like flattened stems called phyllodes[ 286 Title Flora of Australia Publication Author Website http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description The full information from the Flora of Australia - on-line. An excellent resource. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of materials. It has potential as a crop for high volume wood production, and can be used in soil stabilization programmes. Introduced into South Africa as a plantation crop, the tree has escaped from cultivation and it has been declared a weed there[ 1301 Title Acacia Search; Evaluation of Acacia as a woody crop option for Southern Australia Publication Author Maslin B.R. & McDonald M.W. Publisher Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation; Western A Year 2004 ISBN 0642 58585 7 Description ].