Description
Acacia confusa | ACRB
Our Acacia confusa root bark comes from Taiwan. Farmers collect it from trees which fall down in the rainy season.
Native use
The original peoples of Taiwan may have traditionally used ACRB as an entheogen. Chinese medicine practitioners use it today. They say that the old herbalists believed that ACRB can take you to another world.
Most people prefer to work with MHRB Mimosa hostilis root bark.
Habitat
Acacia confusa belongs to the Leguminosae (Pea family). Acacia confusa is a perennial tree native to South-East Asia. Some common names for it are Acacia Petit Feuille, Small Philippine Acacia, Formosa Acacia (Taiwan Acacia) and Formosan Koa. Acacia confusa grows to a height of 15 meters. The tree is now very common in many tropical Pacific areas, including Hawaii, where the species is invasive. Acacia confusa wood has a density of about 0.75 g/cm³. In Taiwan, they use this wood to make support beams for mines. They also convert it to charcoal for family use. In Taiwan, people use acacia confusa in traditional medicine. You can buy it in herbal medicine shops (草藥店).
Scientific information
ACRB contains high concentrations of noteworthy alkaloids in its root and trunk bark.
The wood and bark are very rich in tannins. People use these tannins to dye and stain, for example animal hides (leather). The stem bark of Acacia confusa contains between 23-35% tannins. A tree of about 30cm diameter at chest height gives approximately 10-20kg of raw dried bark that can be used for tannin extraction.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (info from this website)
In Taiwan, A. confusa was used as a traditional medicine. The aqueous extract of A. confusa leaves was applied to cure wounds and antiblood stasis. The commercial and industrial uses of A. confusa were fire wood, charcoal-making, railroad tie, mining construction and mushroom cultivation. For water and soil conservation, this plant is planted in the wilderness for a long time because its root system is extremely strong and can grow extensively and deeply into the ground. Recently, this plant has shown great potential for air pollution prevention because of its remarkable carbon dioxide sequestration ability and foliar dust retention. The bark and wood of A. confusa, like many other Acacia species, are rich in tannins which are used to dye and stain clothes and tan leather.
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