blackwood

Acacia melanoxylon is a tree that typically grows to a height of 6–30 m (20–98 ft), sometimes a shrub to 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in), and is sometimes spread by root suckers. It has hard, fissured and somewhat scaly, dark grey to black bark and ribbed, glabrous branchlets. Its phyllodes are narrowly elliptic or lance-shaped, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, straight to more or less sickle-shaped, 40–160 mm (1.6–6.3 in) long, 6–30 mm (0.24–1.18 in) wide, dark green, glabrous and more or less leathery with three to five main veins. The flowers are borne in three to five spherical heads in racemes 6–40 mm (0.24–1.57 in) long on peduncles 4–13 mm (0.16–0.51 in) long. The heads are about 6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter with 30 to 56 creamy pale yellow to white flowers. Flowering occurs from July to December and the pods are strongly curved to openly coiled and often twisted, up to 150 mm (5.9 in) long, 3.5–8 mm (0.14–0.31 in) wide, glabrous and leathery to subwoody. The seeds are broadly elliptic, 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long, and glossy black.

Blackwood is widespread and often common, found from the Atherton Tableland and south through the highlands of Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania. It is also found in the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges in South Australia and is sometimes naturalised in Western Australia. It grows in a variety of habitats, favouring fertile valley soils and flats in mountainous areas, often and forest and cooler rainforest, sometimes in drier eucalypt forest and woodland. In Tasmania, it is often the dominant tree in forested seasonal swamps.

Indigenous Australians use many parts of A. melanoxylon for a variety of purposes. Seeds are harvested and consumed as a common bush tucker food, and leaves can be used as a soap or fishing poison. The bark is either harvested to make string or prepared as a traditional analgesic, while wood is often used to make clap sticks, spear-throwers and shields. The live plant is also employed as a fire barrier in rural settings when grown amongst other fire-resistant species. Blackwood timber is commercially milled for wood paneling, furniture, joinery and cabinetry, tool handles, boat-building, inlaid boxes and wooden kegs. It is often qualitatively compared to walnut hardwood, and its physical properties are well-suited for shaping with steam. The bark contains a tannin content of about 20%, and is often engineered to produce decorative wood veneer. Plain and figured Australian blackwood is used for musical instruments; in particular, guitars, drums, Hawaiian ukuleles, violin bows and organ pipes. More recently, blackwood has seen an increasing value as a substitute for koa wood.