Tamarindus indica L.

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Tamarindus indica L.

  • Description

    Species Description - A large tree, sometimes 20 m. high or higher, with a trunk up to 1.5 m. thick, the branches widely spreading, the young twigs slender, puberulent. Leaves 6-12 cm. long, short-petioled, glabrous or nearly so; leaflets 10-18 pairs, thin, reticulate-veined, oblong, 12-25 mm. long, rounded or refuse at the apex, obliquely obtuse or subtruncate at the base; racemes few-several-flowered, mostly terminal and shorter than the leaves; pedicels slender, 6-10 mm. long; calyx 8-10 mm. long; larger petals a little longer than the sepals; stamens a little longer than the petals; pod 5-15 cm. long, about 2 em. thick, the epicarp brown, scaly, the flesh acid, the brown shining seeds about 1 em. broad.

  • Distribution

    Spontaneous after cultivation. Andros. New Providence and Inagua : Probably native of tropical Africa : widely naturalized in tropical America. Tamarind.

    Andros Island Bahamas South America| New Providence Bahamas South America| Inagua Bahamas South America| Africa|