Senegalia catechu(L.f.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb.

black cutch

WFO wfo-0001284769 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. a Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-02-04 / obs. 112037430
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. b Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037696
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. c Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037593
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. d Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037674
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. e Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037610
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. f Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037642
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. g Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037697
Senegalia catechu, photographed by Ramnarayan K
fig. h Ramnarayan K, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112037655

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 11 botanical countries

Regions where Senegalia catechu is native: China South-Central, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, West Himalaya China South-CentralAssamBangladeshEast HimalayaIndiaMyanmarNepalPakistanSri LankaThailandWest Himalaya
Native distribution of Senegalia catechu, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Sri Lanka SRL
Thailand THA
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 31 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Acacia catechu Brandis
  • Acacia catechu Wight & Arn.
  • Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd.
  • Acacia catechu subsp. suma (Roxb.) Roberty
  • Acacia catechu subsp. sundra (Roxb.) Roberty
  • Acacia catechu var. catechuoides (Roxb.) Prain
  • Acacia catechu var. sundra (Roxb.) Kurz
  • Acacia catechu var. wallichiana (DC.) P.C.Huang
  • Acacia catechuoides (Roxb.) Benth.
  • Acacia chundra (Roxb. ex Rottler) Willd.
  • Acacia polyacantha Willd.
  • Acacia sandra Bedd.
  • Acacia suma Buch.-Ham. ex Wall.
  • Acacia suma (Roxb.) Kurz ex Brandis
  • Acacia sundra (Roxb.) DC.
  • Acacia sundra (Roxb.) Bedd.
  • Acacia wallichiana DC.
  • Mimosa albida Roxb. ex Wall.
  • Mimosa cate Spreng.
  • Mimosa catechu L.f.
  • Mimosa catechuoides Roxb.
  • Mimosa chundra Roxb. ex Rottler
  • Mimosa frondosa B.Heyne ex Wall.
  • Mimosa spinosissima Poir.

and 7 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol SECA28. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.