Tamarindus indica L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tree to 10 m tall. Leaves once pinnate; leaflets opposite, 1-2.3 cm long, chartaceous, oblong, the apex obtuse or truncate, the base asymmetric, rounded, the margins entire; stipules minute, early deciduous. Flowers bisexual, in axillary or terminal racemes; pedicels short; calyx forming a short funnel-shaped hypanthium at base, the sepals 4, expanded, petal-like, 0.8-1.1 cm long; corolla yellow, of 3 showy petals and 2 inconspicuous scale-like petals, the showy petals with reddish veins, dissimilar, the lateral ones larger, 1-1.3 cm long; stamens 7 or 8, 4-5 reduced to staminodes, the 3 fertile ones with filaments incurved, fused half of their length into a flattened structure, the anthers opening along longitudinal slits; ovary l-locular, short-stipitate, with many ovules, the stipe adnate to the hypanthium, the stigma nearly capitate. Legume 10- 15 cm long, oblong, straight or curved, with one torulose side, the walls crustaceous (hard and fragile), indehiscent, tan to light brown. Seeds several, 1-1.7 cm long, wedge-shaped, dark brown, shiny, embedded in brown, tart, edible pulp.
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Discussion
Common name: tamarind.
Cultivated species: Bauhinia monandra Kurz (with pink flowers), Bauhinia tomentosa L. (with white or yellow flowers), and Cassia fistula L. (with golden-yellow flowers) are occasionally cultivated.
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Distribution
A common tree of open dry areas. Lameshur (A1810). Also on other islands of the Virgin Islands; apparently native to India, now cultivated and naturalized throughout the tropics.
United States Virgin Islands South America|