Acacia nilotica, Karivelum, Babul tree, കരിവേലം

Family: Fabaceae
Vernacular names: Karivelum, കരിവേലം (Malayalam), Babul tree (English), Babool (Hindi),
Distribution: North India to North Africa through West Asia
Description: Trees, to 8 m high; bark black with deep narrow longitudinal fissures. leaflets 20-40, opposite, sessile; lamina 3-4 x 1-2 mm, linear, oblong or linear-oblong, base oblique, apex obtuse, margin entire, glabrous. lowers bright yellow, in heads on axillary peduncle. Fruit a pod 7.6-23 x 1.3-2 cm, flattened, strap-shaped, straight to slightly curved, deeply constricted between seeds, bullate over seeds, beaked at apex; densely grey-felted, glaucous, greyish-green, turning black on drying, attenuate at base into stipe, dehiscent; seeds 8-13, flat 5 x 4 mm, black.
Habit: Tree
Habitat: Dry deciduous forests and also planted
Flowering & Fruiting: July-October

Parts used: Bark
Properties & Uses: anti-microbial, anti-plasmodial and antioxidant activity and used for treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis C virus and cancer. It is useful for treatment of venereal diseases, nausea, burns and wounds, stomachache and diarrhea. Boiled leaf extract used for curing chest pain or pneumonia, powerlessness and chest illnesses, fever, malaria, headache, coughs, painful joints, backache, stomach ulcers are among many other medicinal uses of this plant.
Systems of Medicines: Ayurveda, Folk,
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