Black Wattle
Acacia mearnsii
- Habit
- Tree
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh & more
- Flowering
- March-December
How to identify Black Wattle
Identify Black Wattle 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: Cultivated for tannin-rich bark (black wattle).
- Confirm leaf type: Bipinnately compound.
- Confirm leaf shape: Feathery bipinnate leaflets.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: March-December.
- In India, compare location records such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh.
- Confirm it sits within the Mimosaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Black Wattle.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Acacia mearnsii
- Genus
- Acacia
- Family
- Mimosaceae
- Habit
- Tree
- Habitat
- In Plantations
- Habitat type
- Cultivated
- Native to
- Australia
- Distribution
- Widely planted
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
- Flowering & fruiting
- March-December
Leaf characters
- Leaf type
- Bipinnately compoundrecordedThe leaf is divided twice — each 'leaflet' is itself a row of smaller leaflets, giving a fine, fern-like look.“The leaves are bipinnate with 7 to 31 pairs of pinnae, each with 25 to 78 pairs of pinnules.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf shape
- Feathery bipinnate leafletsrecorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Black Wattle 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
- Malayalam
- കറുത്ത വാറ്റിൽ, Acacia mearnsii
About Black Wattle
Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) is a tree in the Mimosaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and 1 other states. It grows in in Plantations. Flowering and fruiting run from March to December.
Uses
It is long used in traditional medicine, tapped for gum or resin and stripped for fibre used in rope and matting. Those medicinal uses are traditional attributions, not medical advice.
Mimosaceae
Mimosa/Acacia family
Black Wattle belongs to the Mimosaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Mimosaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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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.
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