Huisache or Cassie Tree
The Huisache, or Cassie (Acacia Farnesiana, Willd.), belongs to a great tropical suborder of the pod-bearers which is widely distributed over the earth. The valuable blackwood of Australia belongs to it and Acacia Arabica, of Egypt and southern Asia, which yields the bulk of the gum arabic of commerce. Valuable timber, tan barks, dyes, perfumes and drugs are yielded by acacias. As ornamentals, the trees rank very high.The huisache grows wild in the Rio Grande Valley, and has become established in Florida and the other Gulf States, having escaped from cultivation. It is a small, spiny tree, with graceful, spreading branches, and pendulous twigs covered with feathery twice pinnate leaves.
The flowers are numerous, bright yellow, in heads, and very fragrant. The thick pods contain two rows of flattened seeds. In Italy this species is cultivated for its flowers, which are used in the making of perfumes.
It is cultivated in gardens the world over, and has generally established itself in the warmer parts of every continent. It yields tannin, gums and valuable lumber.