Khair / Black Cutch
Acacia catechu
Also known as Cutch Tree, White Kutch
- Habit
- Tree
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka & more
- Flowering
- March-December
How to identify Khair
Identify Khair by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a tree habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Heartwood boiled to produce catechu extract.
- Confirm leaf shape: Feathery bipinnate leaflets.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: March-December.
- In India, compare location records such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Mimosaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Khair.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Acacia catechu
- Genus
- Acacia
- Family
- Mimosaceae
- Habit
- Tree
- Habitat
- Dry deciduous forests
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Native to
- South Asia
- Distribution
- India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutone, Thailand, China, Taiwan. Introduced in Mauritius
- Found in India
- Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Odisha, Bihar, Daman & Diu, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland
- Flowering & fruiting
- March-December
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Feathery bipinnate leafletsrecorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Khair itself; the rest are typical of the Mimosaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Head
- Fruit
- Legume
Typical of the Mimosaceae family — flowering plants only; individual species can differ.
Local Names
- Hindi
- खैर khair,सेनेगालिया senegaliya
- Nepali
- खयर
- Bengali
- খয়ের
- Tamil
- மாரோடம், செங்கருங்காலி
- Telugu
- కాచు, నల్లచండ్ర
- Kannada
- ಅಕೇಶಿಯ ಕ್ಯಾಟೆಚು
- Malayalam
- കരിങ്ങാലി, Acacia catechu, ഖദിര
- Marathi
- खैर
Khair in India
This thorny tree, known as खैर (Hindi), மாரோடம் (Tamil), కాచు (Telugu), ಅಕೇಶಿಯ ಕ್ಯಾಟೆಚು (Kannada), കരിങ്ങാലി (Malayalam), खैर (Marathi), is the source of kattha (catechu), a familiar paan ingredient. Acacia catechu is found across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, typically in dry deciduous forest.
Uses
Its heartwood is boiled down to produce kattha (catechu extract), used in paan and for tanning and dyeing, and the tree's hard, durable wood has been used for tool handles and construction.
How to Identify Khair
A thorny deciduous tree with feathery, bipinnate leaves and small paired spines at the leaf base. Small pale yellow flower spikes appear in the rainy season, followed by flat, thin, papery pods.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Black Cutch called in different Indian languages?
- खैर (Hindi); மாரோடம் (Tamil); కాచు (Telugu); ಅಕೇಶಿಯ ಕ್ಯಾಟೆಚು (Kannada); കരിങ്ങാലി (Malayalam); खैर (Marathi); খয়ের (Bengali).
- What is kattha?
- A reddish-brown extract boiled down from Acacia catechu heartwood, traditionally chewed as part of paan alongside betel leaf and areca nut.
- Is khair the same as regular acacia gum?
- No — khair is valued for its heartwood extract (kattha) and tannins, distinct from gum arabic, which comes from different Acacia species valued for their sap-derived gum.
Mimosaceae
Mimosa/Acacia family
Khair belongs to the Mimosaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Mimosaceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Khair or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guidesMore in Mimosaceae
View all MimosaceaeSources: GBIF — Acacia catechu (India distribution & vernacular names) (CC BY 4.0) · Wikipedia — Acacia catechu (background/comprehension only) (CC BY-SA 4.0)