Monkey pod tree (Samanea saman)

Trembesi or rain tree or monkey pod tree (Samanea saman) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae, a large tree, 30-40 meters high, 4.5 meters in diameter, tree crown 40-60 meters, irregularly shaped trunk, sometimes bent and swollen big.

S. saman has compound leaves with stalks about 7-15 cm long, 4-5 cm wide, dark green in color, the lower surface is velvety and soft. The leaves will fold when it rains and at night.

Flowers are white and bright red spots on the top, 10 cm long from base to tip. The crown tube is 3.7 cm long and has 20-30 stamens 3-5 cm long. Nectar for insects are very fond of.

The pods are straight, slightly curved, 10-20 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide and 0.6 cm thick. The fruit is dark brown when ripe. Seeds embedded in reddish-brown flesh, very sticky, sweet containing 5-25 seeds with a length of 1.3 cm.

Trembesi absorbs 28.5 tons of carbon dioxide every year which an ordinary tree absorbs only 1 ton in a 20 year lifetime. This tree is also able to reduce gas concentrations effectively, without reforestation and has a strong ability to absorb groundwater.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Mimosoideae
Tribe: Ingeae
Genus: Samanea
Species: Samanea saman

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