(drawing to come)
Central and South America.
Annual rainfall: 600-2500mm.
Normal temperature range: 20-35°C.
Altitude range: 0-1000m.
Seasonal adaptability: tolerates 2-4 months dry season.
Soils: acidic to alkaline, pH 5.5-8.5, clay or sands, can even withstand seasonally waterlogged soils.
Light requirement: high.
Height at maturity: 40m.
Diameter at breast height (1.3m) at maturity: 2m.
Form: fair (plantations) to poor (in open pasture); large crown.
Coppicing ability: fair to excellent.
Growth: can attain a diameter at breast height of 18cm in 5 years.
Other: fixes nitrogen.
Good quality timber for carving; ideal shade tree, with a high tolerance to a wide variety of sites.
Top heavy and shallow rooted; spreading crown can occupy a wide area; foliage is sometimes atacked by defoliators.
Wood products: timber for carving and furniture is high quality, with production of 10-25m3/ha/yr under a 10-15 year rotation. Wood density is 0.6-0.7. Wood can be carved when green.
Fuelwood: 5200-5600 kcal/kg, high quality charcoal, but wood burns with a lot of smoke even when very dry.
Fodder: pods contain 12-18% protein, are 40% digestible, and are favoured by cows and goats. Leaves are also palatable.
Other: used to rear lac insect. Tannin, gum, and honey from prolific flowering. Pulpy pods are edible.
By seed. Seedlings should be transplanted using containers.
Place seeds in hot water for 3 minutes, then soak overnight in cool water.
Can be pollarded, lopped heavily or coppiced to provide fuel.
Used as a shade crop for coffee, vanilla, nutmeg, and cacao. Good shade tree in pasture systems and can be grown as a hedge tree if lopped heavily.