Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. (FABACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Madras Thorn, Manila Tamarind, Asam Keranji

Description

Evergreen tree to 12 m tall with dense busy crown. Twigs armed with pairs of spines at leaf bases. Leaves bipinnate with only 1 pair of leaflets, 1.5-5 cm long. Flowers cream to greenish white, in heads of 8-20 uniform flowers along a rachis. Fruits 10-15 cm long, spirally coiled into a circle, c. 5 cm across, green flushed pink eventually splitting open on both ends, seeds black with fleshy white or pinkish aril.


Ecology

Sometimes naturalised in open areas. Dry, brushy or thinly forested plains or hillsides, often in coastal thickets at low elevations.

Distribution

C and S America.

Uses

Cultivated as an ornamental and for the edible arils.