Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd.

 
  • Family : MIMOSACEAE
    (Pea Or Bean Family)
  • Family (Hindi name) : BABOOL FAMILY (बबूल फैमिली)
  • Family (as per The APG System III) : Fabaceae
  • Subfamily : Mimosoideae
  • Basionym : Mimosa catechu L.f.
  • Synonym(s) : Acacia catechu var. catechuoides (Roxb.) Prain; Acacia catechu var. wallichiana (DC.) P.C.Huang; Acacia catechuoides (Roxb.) Benth.; Acacia wallichiana DC.; Mimosa cate Spreng.; Mimosa catechuoides Roxb.; Mimosa spinosissima Poir.
  • Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Senegalia catechu (L.f.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb.
  • Common name : Black Cutch, Cutch Tree, White kutch
  • Vernacular name :
    • Khair, Khaira (Hindi)
    • Kachhu, Kaggali (Kannada)
    • Othalai, Kasukkoto, Karunkalli (Tamil)
    • Sundra, Khadirim, Nallasundra, Kaviri (Telugu)
    • Khairo (Oria)
    • Karingali, Kadiram, Cutch tree (Malayalam)
  • Habit : Tree
  • Habitat : Tropical dry deciduous forests
  • Key identification features : Small tree; Leaves fern-like; Flowers white or pale yellow, bunched tightly together to form a cylindrical flower spike; Seed pods dark brown.
  • Flower, Fruit : March-December
  • Distribution :
    • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, East Godavari district, Kurnool district, Guntur district, Visakhapatnam district, Srikakulam district
    • Karnataka : Bengaluru Urban district, Bengaluru Rural district, Chitradurga district, Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Mysuru district, Uttara Kannada district
    • Kerala : Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Idukki district
    • Maharashtra : Thane district
    • Odisha : Ganjam district, Koraput district, Angul district, Cuttack district
    • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
    • Jharkhand :
    • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
    • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
    • Sikkim : Sikkim
    • West Bengal : West Bengal
    • Himachal Pradesh : Kangra district
    • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
    • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
    • Assam : Assam
    • Nagaland : Nagaland
    • Delhi : Delhi
    • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
    • Mizoram : Mizoram
    • Manipur : Manipur
    • Tripura : Tripura
  • Native : Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand
  • Exotic/Native : Native
  • World Distribution : Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand
  • Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
  • Literature :
    • Pullaiah et al., 2001 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 2
    • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
    • J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1
    • R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District
    • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
    • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI
    • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1
    • Saldanha, 1984
    • Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Flora of Bangalore district, Karnataka state
    • Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga
    • Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore
    • Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Flora of Coorg district, Karnataka state
    • Indigenous Plants at Biodiversity Park, Ranchi - Ranchi Afforestation Division, Forest and Environmental Department, Jharkhand
    • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 1, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 167
  • Read more :
  • Permalink : http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Acacia catechu
  • Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2026). India Flora Online. http://indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Acacia catechu. Downloaded on 13 February 2026.

Botanical Description

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

Habitat

Distribution District wise

India Distribution

World Distribution

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