• Family : MIMOSACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BABOOL FAMILY (बबूल फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Leguminosae
• Subfamily : Mimosoideae
• Basionym : Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd. var. indica Benth.
• Synonym(s) : Mimosa arabica Lam.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica (Benth.) Kyal. & Boatwr.
• Common name : Babool Acacia, Indian Gum Arabic, Black Babool Tree
• Vernacular name :
  • Babul, Babur, Kikar (Hindi)
  • Kari jali, Gobli (Kannada)
  • Karuvaelam (Tamil)
  • Nalla-tumma (Telugu)
  • Babur, Bambur, Babullo (Oria)
  • Barburah, Vavari (Sanskrit)
  • Babhal (Marathi)
• Habit : Tree
• Comments / notes : In plains along Agricultural margins from the coast to 500m,mostly by arable lands.
• Key identification features : Bark dark brown, very rough with deep narrow longitudinal fissures, exudes good gum when insure, blaze pinkish brown
• Flower, Fruit : August-April
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Prakasam district, Kurnool district, East Godavari district, Vishakapatnam district, Anantapur district, Kadapa district, Chittoor district, Srikakulam district
  • Karnataka : Bidar district, Vijayapura (Bijapur) district, Chikkamagaluru district, Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district, Raichur district, Tumakuru district, Bengaluru district, Ballari district, Chitradurga district, Hassan district, Kolar district, Udupi district, Mysuru district, Dakshina Kannada district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Ganjam district, Koraput district, Mayurbhanj district, Cuttack district, Puri district, Sambalpur district, Koraput district
  • Tamil Nadu : Vellore district, Tiruvannamalai district, Tiruchirapalli district, Salem district, Namakkal district
  • Madhya Pradesh : Madhya Pradesh
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • West Bengal : West Bengal
  • Himachal Pradesh : Himachal Pradesh
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Delhi : Delhi
  • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Rajasthan : Jaisalmer district, Barmer district, Bikaner district, Jodhpur district
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Yemen
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Yemen
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature :
  • Pullaiah et al., 2001 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 2
  • J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1
  • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
  • R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District
  • R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District
  • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
  • Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
  • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1
  • Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan
  • Saldanha, 1984
  • Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Flora of Bangalore district, Karnataka state
  • Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga
  • Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore
  • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi
  • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 1, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 169
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Acacia nilotica subsp. indica. Downloaded on 1 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution