Acacia Farnesiana, Sweet Acacia - 0.5 kg Seeds

Acacia farnesiana (also placed as Vachellia farnesiana), the sweet acacia or vilayati kikar, is a thorny deciduous shrub or small tree bearing feathery foliage and intensely fragrant, deep-golden flower balls. It is naturalised throughout the drier plains of India and thrives on poor, dry and even slightly saline soils.

The richly scented flowers are distilled for perfume (the classic 'cassie' oil), and the plant is widely grown as a fragrant ornamental and as a dense, thorny living hedge for boundaries and field protection. The bark and pods yield tannin and dye, while the foliage serves as fodder, making it a useful nitrogen-fixing multipurpose tree for arid regions.

• Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
• Native region: tropical America, now pantropical and naturalised in India
• Mature height: 3-8 m
• Growth rate: moderate to fast, very drought hardy

The seeds are hard-coated, so apply a hot-water treatment (pour near-boiling water over them and soak as it cools for about 24 hours) or scarify before sowing. Sow 1-2 cm deep in a sandy, free-draining mix; germination usually follows in 7-14 days. Raise the seedlings in poly bags and transplant at the start of the monsoon.