3104

11: Auxiliary plants

Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Willd.) Griseb.

LEGUMINOSAE - MIMOSOIDEAE

Pithecellobium cyclocarpum Martius

Mexican walnut, pitchwood, earpod-tree (En).

Native to Central and northern South America, now occasionally grown all over the tropics.

In tropical Central and South America and occasionally in South-East Asia, grown as a shade tree in coffee plantations. Young pods and seeds are eaten as a vegetable. Pods are used as a fodder. The bark and pods are occasionally used as a substitute for soap.

Tree, 15—30 m tall, crown thin and spreading, up to 45 m wide. Leaves bipinnately compound, with 4—9 pairs of pinnae, each with 13—30 pairs of leaflets; leaflets narrowly oblong, 8—13 mm x 2—4 mm, apex acute. Flowers in glomerules (heads), 1—2.5 cm in diameter, white or greenish, on a 2—3 cm long peduncle. Pod flat, curved into a circle or spiral, 7—12 cm in diameter, blackish-brown. Seeds in 2 rows, dark brown, compressed ovoid-ellipsoid, 13—20 mm x 11 mm x 8 mm, with pale pleurogram.

[51]Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950–. Series 1. Volume 1, 4–. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
[101]Mansfeld, R., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaflicher und gärtnerischer Kulturpflanzen (ohne Zierpflanzen) [Register of cultivated agricultural and horticultural plants (without ornamentals)]. Schultze-Motel, J. et al., editors 2nd edition, 4 volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 1998 pp.
[170]Verdcourt, B., 1979. A manual of New Guinea legumes. Botany Bulletin No 11. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 645 pp.

M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen

Sosef, M.S.M. & van der Maesen, L.J.G., 1997. Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Willd.) Griseb.. In: Faridah Hanum, I & van der Maesen, L.J.G. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 11: Auxiliary plants. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea