Inga edulis
| Ice-cream bean (Inga edulis) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ingá-cipó identified as Inga edulis on the Commons file page. | Common names | Ice-cream bean, ice-cream bean tree, guaba or guamo; regional names vary and can also refer to other Inga species.[1][5] | ||
| Scientific name | Inga edulis | - | Genus | Inga |
| Family | Fabaceae[2] | |||
| Order | Fabales | - | Native range | Tropical South America, including parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.[1] |
| Fruit | Long, cylindrical to sometimes spirally twisted pod containing dark seeds surrounded by edible, sweet, translucent-white pulp.[4][5] | |||
| Years to fruit | N/A — no reliable species-wide range is established across propagation methods and climates. | |||
Inga edulis is a tropical South American tree cultivated and gathered for its sweet seed-covering pulp. It is commonly called ice-cream bean, guaba, or guamo, although these common names are not exclusive to one species. The tree is also used as a shade and soil-improvement component in tropical agroforestry.[3][5]
Description[edit | edit source]
The species is an evergreen tree with a broad, spreading crown; commonly reported trees reach about 20 metres, with larger specimens recorded in some accounts.[3] Its compound leaves have nectaries, and its flowers occur in dense clusters. The fruit is a long, grooved, cylindrical pod, sometimes twisted. Inside, dark seeds are surrounded by a soft white pulp associated with the seed covering rather than a fleshy pod wall.[4][5]
Cultivation[edit | edit source]
The tree is associated with humid tropical conditions and is grown both for fruit and for shade in systems including coffee, cacao, tea, black pepper, and vanilla. Inga trees can regrow rapidly after cutting, and the species is used in agroforestry and restoration contexts; those functions should not be taken as a guarantee of fruit production under every planting condition.[3][5][7]
Soil and water[edit | edit source]
World Agroforestry describes the species from riverine and floodplain settings and records tolerance of acid soils. Such tolerance does not make permanently stagnant or poorly aerated garden soil suitable; drainage and local rainfall remain important.[4] The species is also reported from forest and floodplain habitats, with some seasonally drier or higher-elevation occurrences across its broad range.[3]
Sun and humidity[edit | edit source]
Inga edulis is a light-demanding tree associated with warm, humid tropical climates. Its use as a shade tree distinguishes its role in a multi-layer planting from the light available to the tree itself; fruiting performance can vary with climate, plant age, and management.[3][4]
Seasonal changes[edit | edit source]
Flowering and fruiting are commonly associated with the tropical wet season, although timing varies by region. Wet-season fruits are eaten by animals that help disperse the soft seeds.[4][5]
Propagation[edit | edit source]
Fresh seed is the principal documented method. The seeds are recalcitrant and lose viability quickly, so they are best sown soon after removal from a ripe pod. A horticultural account reports germination within a few days under suitable nursery conditions; seedlings can be transplanted after developing several leaves and grown on before field planting.[6][3] Vegetative propagation and coppicing are reported in secondary tree references, but results depend on material and conditions.[4]
Flowering, fruiting, and harvest[edit | edit source]
The flowers are produced in dense clusters, and pods mature during a regionally variable wet-season fruiting period. Ripe pods are opened to remove the seeds and their surrounding edible pulp. No reliable species-wide years-to-fruit range is established across propagation methods and climates.[4][6]
Fruit and uses[edit | edit source]
The sweet, soft, translucent-white pulp around the dark seeds is commonly eaten raw, and the fruits are sold in local markets in parts of South America.[3][5] The same tree is valued for shade, biomass, soil-improvement functions associated with legume root nodules, and other agroforestry uses. These are separate from the culinary use of the fruit and may vary with site and management.[4][5][7]
Photos[edit | edit source]
Inga edulis at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach, Florida.
References[edit | edit source]
Image credits[edit | edit source]
- File:Ingá Inga edulis 2.JPG — Hellen Perrone; public domain. Caption limited to the Commons identification of ingá-cipó as Inga edulis.
- File:Inga edulis-Mounts Botanical Garden.jpg — KATHERINE WAGNER-REISS; CC BY-SA 4.0. Caption identifies Inga edulis at Mounts Botanical Garden, West Palm Beach, Florida.
- File:Inga edulis Taub57.png — Paul Taubert; public domain. Botanical illustration identified as Inga edulis on the Commons file page; source is *Leguminosae* in *Natürliche Pflanzenfamilien*.
