Acacia Auriculiformis, Australian Babul - 0.5 kg Seeds

Acacia auriculiformis, the earleaf acacia or Australian babul, is a fast-growing evergreen tree introduced widely across India for plantation and avenue planting. It is recognised by its drooping, sickle-shaped phyllodes (modified leaf stalks), bright yellow flower spikes and curiously curled, ear-like seed pods.

Valued for fuelwood, charcoal and pulpwood, it is also planted as a quick-establishing shade and avenue tree and for stabilising and greening eroded, lateritic and mined wastelands. As a nitrogen-fixing legume it improves poor soils, and its dense crown makes it a popular roadside and boundary tree in eastern and southern India.

• Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
• Native region: northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia
• Mature height: 15-30 m
• Growth rate: very fast

The small hard seeds need their coat softened first: pour hot water over them and let them soak as it cools for 12-24 hours, sowing those that swell. Sow about 1 cm deep in a light nursery mix; germination is typically 7-14 days. Prick the seedlings into poly bags and plant out at the start of the rains.