This tree, the silver wattle, Acacia dealbata, is a close cousin of the golden wattle, Acacia pycnantha, the national flower of Australia, and both species are native to that continent. Worldwide there are 1,000 species of acacia. But the first plant ever called an acacia is no longer classified as acacia! Let me explain.
The Greek botanist and pharmacologist Dioscorides, in his celebrated work De Materia Medica[1] wrote of an Egyption tree which he called akakia (ακακια). From its seed pod was pressed a fluid that was good for (amongst other things) eye inflammation, shingles, and 'blisters in the mouth' and the tree also produced
... a gum that comes out of this thorn which is astringent and cooling.
and in that you have the etymology of gum. The Greek word Dioscorides uses was kommi (κομμι) and via Latin and Anglo-Norman this made its way into Middle English and ended up as gum, a kind of glue, and then used for chewing gum and bubblegum. Kommi is thought to have been borrowed from Egyptian qmy, 'resin' or 'gum' or 'anointing oil'.
When Linnaeus came to name this tree in 1753 (?) he made it the type species of a genus Acacia, using the Greek name, and called it Acacia nilotica and it was (and still is) widely still used. However more modern botanical research has led to the decision in 2005 to assign it to a different genus and rename itVachellia nilotica, with Acacia only being (mainly) confined to Australian species [2]. (So our tree is a fully accredited acacia.)
This controversial step although scientifically justified, has led to a situation where Dioscorides' ακακια in no longer an acacia, which a imagine would have surprised him.
When Is Acacia Not Acacia?
Last August I posted about a little acacia tree we'd just acquired. Now it's blooming, right on cue! (It blooms in winter.)
This tree, the silver wattle, Acacia dealbata, is a close cousin of the golden wattle, Acacia pycnantha, the national flower of Australia, and both species are native to that continent. Worldwide there are 1,000 species of acacia. But the first plant ever called an acacia is no longer classified as acacia! Let me explain.
The Greek botanist and pharmacologist Dioscorides, in his celebrated work De Materia Medica [1] wrote of an Egyption tree which he called akakia (ακακια). From its seed pod was pressed a fluid that was good for (amongst other things) eye inflammation, shingles, and 'blisters in the mouth' and the tree also produced
... a gum that comes out of this thorn which is astringent and cooling.
and in that you have the etymology of gum. The Greek word Dioscorides uses was kommi (κομμι) and via Latin and Anglo-Norman this made its way into Middle English and ended up as gum, a kind of glue, and then used for chewing gum and bubblegum. Kommi is thought to have been borrowed from Egyptian qmy, 'resin' or 'gum' or 'anointing oil'.
When Linnaeus came to name this tree in 1753 (?) he made it the type species of a genus Acacia, using the Greek name, and called it Acacia nilotica and it was (and still is) widely still used. However more modern botanical research has led to the decision in 2005 to assign it to a different genus and rename it Vachellia nilotica, with Acacia only being (mainly) confined to Australian species [2]. (So our tree is a fully accredited acacia.)
This controversial step although scientifically justified, has led to a situation where Dioscorides' ακακια in no longer an acacia, which a imagine would have surprised him.
[1] See https://ia802907.us.archive.org/16/items/de-materia-medica/scribd-download.com_dioscorides-de-materia-medica.pdf
[2] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachellia_nilotica