Acacia is a type of shrub or tree that belongs to the family of Fabaceae and subfamily of Mimosoideae. Acacia originally consisted of a large group of 1300 species. In 2005, This group of species was subdivided into 5 groups, Acacia, Vachella and Senegalia, Acaciella, and Mariosousa. Acacia now refers to about 160 species found in Madagascar, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

 Acacia plants contain flat leaf stocks or leaflets along with yellow or white flowers with 10 petals and also bears legumes. They often have sharp thorns at the base of the leaf stocks. The sap of Acacia hardens into a gum and is used for pharmaceutical preparations as an emulsifying agent, and is also used in food, honey, paint, chewing gum and soft drinks.

 Gum acacia produces gum arabic, which consists of polysaccharides and glycoproteins. Gum acacia reduces surface tension between two immiscible liquids, this is why it is used in carbonated beverages and in pharmaceutical products as an emulsifying agents. It is also used to slow absorption from the gastrointestinal tract in oral pharmaceutical dosage forms. A large variety of Acacia's produce tannin. Tannin is used for pharmaceuticals and other industries such as leather production and in dyes.

 Powdered Acacia is used as an ingredient in mineral oil emulsions. Mineral oil emulsions are oil-in-water emulsions which are formulated by mixing mineral oil and acacia together, and then adding purified water. After this step, the other ingredients such as syrup, vanillin, and alcohol are slowly added to the mixture.