Skip to main content

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)

Asem or asam jawa or tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a plant species in Fabaceae as the only species in Tamarindus, a large tree and always green, fruit has a sour or sweet taste that is commonly used as a seasoning mixture in many dishes and flavorings for a variety of drinks.

T. indica has a height of up to 30 m, stem diameter up to 2 m and sturdy. The bark is grayish brown, rough, cracked and in vertical grooves. Shady canopy and leafy, widened and rounded.

Dlium Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)

The leaves are compound and pinnate even, 5-13 cm long, sitting side by side with the supporting leaf like a tapered ribbon. Minor leaves are oval shaped and narrow, 8-16 pairs each measuring 0.5-1x1-3.5 cm, flat edge, base tilted and rounded, tip rounded until slightly curved.

The flowers are arranged in a loose bunch at the armpit of the leaf or at the end of a branch, up to 16 cm long. Butterfly-shaped flower with four petals, five crowns and fragrant. Leucorrhoea yellow crown with red brown veins and size up to 1.5 cm.

Fruit in pods that are distended, somewhat cylindrical, curved or straight, 1-10 seeds with constriction between chambers. The exocarp is brown or gray in color and scaly with hardened and viscous veins.

Mesocarp is greenish white when young, brownish red to blackish when very ripe, sticky and has a sour or sweet taste. The seeds are blackish brown, shiny, somewhat square and hard.





Tamarind grows wild in tropical forests and savanna, altitude up to 1,500 m, sandy soil and clay, especially in areas that have a long dry season and are very adaptive.

The fruit is very popular and is used in various ingredients, syrup, jams, sweets and herbs. Young fruit is very sour and is usually used as a vegetable seasoning or salad mixture. Ripe fruit lasts long after peeling and drying in the sun.

Fruit is also used to eliminate fishy fish. The fruit is processed into tamarind honey by drying in a closed place until blackish brown liquid comes out to treat thrush. The seeds are eaten after being soaked and boiled or roasted, also used as flour to make cakes or bread.

Young leaves are used for fresh drinks, smooth and increase breast milk, reduce inflammation and pain in the joints, coughing and fever. Mashed bark to heal wounds, ulcers and rashes. Seed flour for treating dysentery and diarrhea. Bark is astringent and tonic.

Reddish brown wood, heavy, hard, dense, durable and fine-textured that is often used to make furniture, handicrafts, carvings and sculptures. Seeds are also often used for children's play materials. Tamarind tree is usually planted on the roadside as a shade.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Detarioideae
Tribe: Amherstieae
Genus: Tamarindus
Species: Tamarindus indica
Labels:

Popular Posts

Indian shot (Canna indica)

Puspa midra or Indian shot ( Canna indica ) is is plant species in Cannaceae, annual, shrub 0.5-2.5 meters high, depending on variety, erect stems, unbranched and leaf midrib arranged overlapping to form pseudostems and hermaphrodite flowers. C. indica forms a branched rhizome, 60 cm long which is divided into rounded segments and is covered in two stripes by pale green or purple scaly leaves. The rhizome has tubers that contain very large starch grains. The surface has transverse furrows, the underside appears white roots and numerous shoots. The leaves sit alternate and spiral or arranged in two rows, very large and divided into a leaf midrib, short stalk and blade. The strands are 30-60 cm long, 10-20 cm wide and have linear veins, green or purple-green, the base blunt or narrowly pointed and the apex immediately tapering or sharp. Hermaphrodite flowers, pedicels 0.2-1 cm long and red or yellow-orange, except in some cultivars 4.5-7.5 cm long. The sepals are triangular in shape a...
Read more

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum)

Guinea grass or buffalo grass or green panic ( Panicum maximum ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grasses, growing upright to form clumps, strong, cultivated in all tropical and subtropical regions for very high value as fodder. P. maximum reproduces in very large pols, fibrous roots penetrate into the soil, upright stems, green, 1-1.5 m tall and have smooth cavities for diameters up to 2.5 mm. Propagation is done vegetatively and generatively. Ribbon-shaped leaves with a pointed tip, very many, built in lines, green, 40-105 cm long, 10-30 mm wide, erect, branched, a white linear bone, often covered with a layer of white wax, rough surface by hair short, dense and spread. The flower grows at the end of a long and upright stalk, open with the main axis length to more than 25 cm and the length of the bunches down to 20 cm. Grains have a size of 3x4 mm and oval. Seeds have a length of 2.25-2.50 mm and each 1 kg contains 1.2 - 1.5 million seeds. Guinea grass has two varieties. P...
Read more

Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)

Sonokeling or Java palisandre or Indian rosewood ( Dalbergia latifolia ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae, a large tree producing hardwood, medium weight and high quality, rounded leaves, thin and broad pods, highly adaptive, grows in dry and rocky landscapes with lots of sunlight. D. latifolia has medium to large size, cylindrical stems, up to 40 m high with a ring of up to 2 m, the bark is brownish gray and slightly cracked longitudinally. The crown is dense, dome-shaped and sheds leaves. The leaves are compound and pinnate oddly with 5-7 strands that have different sizes and appear alternately on the shaft. The leaves are round or elongated in width or heart, the upper surface is green and the surface is pale green. The flowers are small, 0.5-1 cm long and clustered in panicles. The pods are green to brown when ripe and are elongated lanceolate, pointed at the base and tip. The pods have 1-4 seeds which are soft and brownish. Indian rosewood grows at elevations below 600 m,...
Read more