Plant · P-520

Tamarind

Tamarindus indica

Tamarind is a slow-growing, very long-lived tree grown for the sour pulp inside its mature pods, used in drinks, jellies, syrups and curries, with young pods, seeds, leaves and flowers all eaten as well. A tree does not bear until it is 7 to 10 years old, but then keeps cropping for roughly two centuries. Despite being a legume it does not fix nitrogen, and its dense shade and root allelopathy suppress what grows beneath and around it, so it works best as a boundary or standalone canopy tree rather than in the middle of a mixed planting.