Acacia Suma, Senegalia Suma - 0.5 kg Seeds

Senegalia suma (formerly Acacia suma), the white khair or safed khair, is a thorny, medium-sized deciduous tree of India's dry deciduous forests and plains. It is closely allied to khair and has pale, smooth bark, fine bipinnate foliage, slender white flower spikes and flat brown pods.

The hard, durable heartwood is used for agricultural implements, tool handles and fuelwood, and like its relative it yields catechu (katha) and tannin; the bark and gum have traditional medicinal uses. As a hardy nitrogen-fixing legume it tolerates poor, dry soils and is planted for fuelwood, fodder and the rehabilitation of degraded land.

• Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
• Native region: Indian subcontinent
• Mature height: 10-15 m
• Growth rate: moderate, drought hardy

The hard-coated seeds need softening first: give a hot-water treatment (pour near-boiling water over them and soak as it cools for 12-24 hours) or scarify before sowing. Sow 1-2 cm deep in a sandy, free-draining mix; germination usually takes 7-14 days. Raise the seedlings in poly bags and transplant at the start of the monsoon.