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Acacia mangium Willd.
Mimosaceae
Mange, Forest Mangrove
Source: James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.
- Uses
- Folk Medicine
- Chemistry
- Toxicity
- Description
- Germplasm
- Distribution
- Ecology
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Yields and Economics
- Energy
- Biotic Factors
- References
Regarded first as a rather productive timber tree, secondly for firewood
(specific gravity = 0.65). The hard, light-brown wood is dense, with narrow
sapwood and a straight, close grain. It makes excellent particle board and
could possibly be useful for furniture, cabinetmaking, and perhaps even pulp
and paper. Capable of being directly sown, the tree appears quite promising
for erosion control where adapted (NAS, 1979). Some success is indicated in
the use of the species to correct the problem of the Imperata grasslands (Tham,
1979). Sabah foresters have converted 1,200 ha of degraded Imperata grassland
into productive forest lands.
No data available.
According to Anderson (1978) the gum contains 5.4% ash, 0.98% N, 1.49%
methoxyl, and by calculation, 32.2% uronic acid. The sugar composition after
hydrolysis: 9.0% 4-0-methylglucuronic acid, 23.2% glucuronic acid, 56%
galactose, 10% arabinose, and 2% rhamnose.
Dust from pods pounded during seed extraction causes a respiratory reaction in
some people. No hint of pollen allergies has been reported (NAS, 1983d).
Tree to 30 m tall, bole often straight, to over half the total tree height.
Branchlets, phyllodes and petioles glabrous or slightly scurfy. Phyllodes 510
cm broad, 24 times as long as broad, dark green, chartaceous when dry. The
phyllodes have (3)4 longitudinal main nerves which join on the dorsal margin
at the base of the phyllode, secondary nerves fine and inconspicuous. Flowers
in loose spikes to 10 cm long, solitary or paired in the upper axils. Flowers
pentamerous, the calyx 0.60.8 mm long, with short obtuse lobes, the corolla
twice as long as the calyx. Pods linear, glabrous, 35 mm broad, ca 7.5 cm
long when green, woody, coiled and brackish-brown when mature, depressed
between the seeds. Seeds lustrous, black, ellipsoid, ovate or oblong, 3.5 x
2.5 mm, the orangish funicle forming a fleshy aril beneath the seed.
Native to the Australian Center of Diversity, the mange tree has been reported
to tolerate heavy soil, laterites, low pH, poor soil, slopes, and weeds (NAS,
1979, 1983d). Hybridizes naturally with Acacia auriculiformis,
producing hybrids which grow faster than either parent, but tending to retain
the poor form of A. auriculiformis.
Largely Australian with disjunct distribution of small stands in New Guinea and
the Moluccas, as well as in Cape York Peninsula. In Indonesia A.
mangium occurs on Taliabu, the most western island, and Sanana, a southern
island of the Sula Island Group and near Waesalan in the southwest of the main
Ceran group. Introduced to Banglasesh, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Hawaii,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Papua, and the Philippines (NAS, 1983d).
Often in grasslands and on margins of lowland primary forests at altitudes of
1050 m. Probably capable of ranging from Tropical Very Dry to Moist through
Subtropical Dry to Wet Forest Life Zones, this species has outperformed
Albizia falcataria, Gmelina arborea (considered among the
fastest-growing useful trees on earth, NAS, 1979), and Pinus caribaea on
poor sites such as disturbed or burned sites, on degraded lateritic clay
underlain with volcanic rock, on soils so worn out that even shifting
cultivation had been abandoned, and on slopes infested with Eupatorium
and/or Imperata species. Mangium apparently tolerates annual
precipitation of 10 to 45 dm or more, mean maximum temperature of 3134°C in
summer, mean minimum temperature of 1225°C in winter, and pH of 4.27.5
(NAS, 1983d). It is reported on entisols and ultisols.
Sometimes sown direstly. During the first two years growth in Sabah Imperata
wastelands, trees required some weeding and occasionally insecticidal
treatment. Beyond that, little tending is required. Trees coppice readily and
flower and fruit profusely and "continuously" (NAS, 1979). Many more details
are reported by NAS (1983d).
Large-diameter logs can be sawn or peeled. Viable seed can be harvested only
24 hours after planting (NAS, 1983d). Fourteen-year old trees yield a kilogram
of seed.
Said to be a very fast growing species attaining 15 m height and 40 cm DBH in 3
years. They have attained 23 m tall in 9 years.
Yields as high as 30 m3/ha/yr have been reported, but 20 m3 has been reported
on poor sites. The timber, recommended for testing as firewood, has potential
for firewood and charcoal (NAS, 1983d). The wood has 4,8004,900 kcal/kg.
Untended 9-year old stands have yielded 415 m3 timber per ha, representing
annual productivity of 46 m3 (NAS, 1979). The MAI in Sabah varies from
13.844.5 m3/ha.
There are problems with leaf insects. Mangium has symbioses with the bacterium
Rhizobium and the fungus Thelephora. Specimens (ca 12%) in Sabah
suffer from a heart rot and a "pink disease" (Corticium salmonicolor).
Seedlings in Hawaiian nurseries are attacked by a powdery mildew (Oidium
sp.). Three pinhole borers attack the tree in Sabah, especially on poorer
sites. Carpenter ants (Camponotus sp.) form galleries in the heartwood
of young trees. Wood borers of the genus Xystrocera may be a problem.
Seedlings may be defoliated by Hypomeces squamosus. Scale insects and
mealy bugs may also be problematic with young plants (NAS, 1983d).
- Anderson, D.M.W. 1978. Chemotaxonomic aspects of the chemistry of acacia gum
exudates. Kew Bull. 32(3):529536.
- N.A.S. 1979. Tropical legumes: resources for the future. National Academy of
Sciences, Washington, DC.
- N.A.S. 1983d. Mangium and other acacias of the humid tropics. National Academy
Press, Washington, DC.
- Tham, C.K. 1979. Trials of Acacia mangium Willd. as a plantation species
in Sabah. Forest Genetic Resources Information 9. FAO Forestry Occasional Paper
1979 (No. 1).
Complete list of references for Duke, Handbook of Energy Crops
Last update December 16, 1997