Gum is obtained from the stems of several species of Acacia inhabiting sandy wadis and growing beside the Nile. Timber from the native acacia trees was always in demand, for boat-building in particular. Although a dozen or more acacias are listed from Egypt, most of them are rare or are shrubby, leaving about four tree species, which are described below - Acacia tortilis, A. raddiana, A. nilotica and A. albida.
A. tortilis and A. raddiana (often combined as subspecies of tortilis) are flat-topped trees, sometimes bushy, with a number of red-brown trunks, often about 5 m (16 ft) high or much taller. The compound leaves have numerous tiny leaflets, with a pair of short stipular thorns at the base of the stalk. Globular heads of whitish flowers give rise to woody pods that are curved or twisted, containing half a dozen seeds.
A. nilotica, the Nile acacia, inhabits moist places beside the river, as its name implies. It is a rounded tree about 8 m (27 ft) high with dark bark and long sharp stipular thorns. The globular flower heads are yellow and the pods are like strings of flattened beads.
A. albida, the white acacia, is unusual because it is deciduous in the summer instead of during the winter, like the other species. It is a medium to tall tree with characteristic white bark, now occurring only in the Aswan area of the Nile Valley on the drier parts of the river bank. Its fragrant white flowers, borne in an elongated inflorescence, produce thick pods of an orange colour.
Gum was probably obtained mainly from the Nile acacia - true gum arabic comes from A. Senegal, a tropical African species. Wounds on the trunk and branches yield tears of yellowish gum which turns a darker colour, even black, with age, such as that found in Tutankhamun’s Tomb. The gum was a well-known component of medicines, as were the boiled leaves and flowers. Acacia bark provided an important source of tannin for the preparation of leather from hides and a blue dye for linen cloth was extracted from acacia pods (p 30).
Acacia timber is reddish, hard and durable. Locally it was used for boat-building and general joinery, so it is likely that some of the red wood reported from Tutankhamun’s tomb is acacia. One dowel from the shrines has been identified as acacia wood.
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