biology

Pithecellobium dulce

Pithecellobium dulce is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pithecellobium dulce rather than just read about it. In short: Pithecellobium dulce, commonly known as Manila tamarind, Madras thorn, monkeypod tree or camachile, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the Pacific Coast and adjacent highlands of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It is also sometimes known as monkeypod, but that name is also used for several other plants, including Samanea saman.

Key takeaways

Pithecellobium dulce belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pithecellobium dulce to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pithecellobium dulce from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pithecellobium dulce, commonly known as Manila tamarind, Madras thorn, monkeypod tree or camachile, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the Pacific Coast and adjacent highlands of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It is also sometimes known as monkeypod, but that name is also used for several other plants, including Samanea saman. It is an introduced species and extensively naturalized in the Caribbean and Florida, as well as the Philippines and Guam via the Manila galleons. It has also been introduced to Cambodia, Thailand and South Asia, It is considered an invasive species in Hawaii.

Description Pithecellobium dulce is a tree that reaches a height of about 10 to 15 m (33 to 49 ft). Its trunk is spiny and up to nine meters in girth (9.4 feet thick DBH) and its leaves are bipinnate. Each pinna has a single pair of ovate-oblong leaflets that are about 2 to 4 cm (0.79 to 1.57 in) long. The flowers are greenish-white, fragrant, sessile and reach about 12 cm (4.7 in) in length, though appear shorter due to coiling. The flowers produce a pod, which turns pink when ripe and opens to expose the seed arils; a pink or white, edible pulp. The pulp contains black shiny seeds that are circular and flat. Pollen is a polyad of many pollen grains stitched together. The seed is dispersed via birds that feed on the sweet pulp. The tree is drought resistant and can survive in dry lands from sea level to an elevation of 1,500 m (4,900 ft), making it suitable for cultivation as a street tree.

Vernacular names

The English names "Manila tamarind" and "Madras thorn" are both misleading since it is neither related to the tamarind nor native to Manila (though it was introduced early to the Philippines) or Madras. Other English names include blackbead, sweet Inga, and monkeypod. Depending on the region of its occurrence, Pithecellobium dulce is known by different names. In its native Mexico, the tree is known as huamuche, guamuche, huamúchil, guamúchil, or cuamúchil, deriving from its Nahuatl name cuauhmochitl. The Nahuatl derivations are also preserved in its names in the Philippines, where it was first introduced into Asia via the Manila galleons. It is known as kamachile in Tagalog (from where the English name "camachile" is derived), kamunsil in Hiligaynon, and damortis or kamantiris in Ilokano. In the wider region of Latin America, it is also called pinzán, or guamá americano (Puerto Rico). In Colombia it is known as chiminango and payandé. It is also known as ʻopiuma in (Hawaiian). In South Asia and the rest of Southeast Asia, it is known by many names, most of which literally translate to "foreign tamarind". These include: makham thet in Thai; plaeh umpel tek in Khmer; kona puliyangai in the Kongu region and kodukkappuli in other regions of Tamil Nadu; sīma cintakāya or sīma tummakāya in Telugu; dora hunase or sīme hunase in Kannada; bakhai ambli or goras amali ,katra in Gujarati; vilayati cinc or cinc bilai or cheese bilai in Marathi; jungle jalebi in Hindi; sīma kaiyan in Odia; achi gidamiri in Sindhi; and jilapi or khoiya babla in Bengali. In Pakistan, it is also known as "jungle jalebi", after the resemblance of its fruits to the jalebi.

Uses

As food The seed pods contain a sweet and sour pulp which is eaten raw in Mexico, the Philippines, Pakistan, Qatar and India as an accompaniment to various meat dishes and used as a base for drinks with sugar and water ('agua de guamúchil'). The seeds are said to be eaten (locally?) in the 'Revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon' (1980), edited by M.D. Dassanayake (this information is not in the original 'Flora of Ceylon' of 1894). A number of studies since the 1980s have investigated the composition and possible uses of the seeds; it has been demonstrated that the seeds can be processed to extract a greenish oil, which when refined and analysed consists of potentially edible fatty acids (the precise composition varies depending on the study, but all agree oleic acid and palmitic acid are common, which is to be expected). Oils amount to 10-17% of the weight of the seeds. The seeds also contain 30-37.5-67.11% protein, which researchers suggest might in the future be used as animal feed.

As traditional medicine The bark is used as an astringent for dysentery in India. It is said to have been used as an antipyretic in India (information originally from 1933), used for eye inflammation, although an anecdote from Sri Lanka claims the bark contains a substance that causes eye infections and swelling of the eyelids. The Huastec people of northern Veracruz and San Luis Potosí in Mexico used different parts of the tree to treat gum ailments, toothache and cancer. The leaves are said to be used in a poultice with alcohol to treat bile, as well as being used to prevent abortions/miscarriage, although the leaves are also said to be used to cause abortions. The pulp from the fruits is said to be astringent and hemostatic, and used for hemoptysis. The ground seed is sometimes traditionally used to clean ulcers. Non-specified parts of the plant are said to be used extract is also used against hemorrhages, chronic diarrhea, and tuberculosis.

Ecology Pithecellobium dulce is a host plant for the caterpillars of the Common nawab (Polyura athamas), three-spot grass yellow (Eurema blanda), Bright babul blue (Azanus ubaldus) and several moths.

Synonyms

Pithecellobium dulce is known under numerous junior synonyms:

Acacia obliquifolia M.Martens & Galeotti Albizia dulcis (Roxb.) F.Muell. Feuilleea dulcis (Roxb.) Kuntze Inga camatchili Perr. Inga dulcis (Roxb.) Willd. Inga javana DC. Inga javanica DC. Inga lanceolata sensu Blanco Inga lanceolata Willd. is Pithecellobium lanceolatum Inga leucantha C.Presl Inga pungens Willd. Mimosa dulcis Roxb. Mimosa edulis Gagnep. Mimosa pungens (Willd.) Poir. Mimosa unguis-cati Blanco Mimosa unguis-cati L. is Pithecellobium unguis-cati Pithecellobium littorale Record Pithecollobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. (lapsus)

References

External links Media related to Pithecellobium dulce at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Pithecellobium dulce at Wikispecies USDA Plants Profile: Pithecellobium dulce Kamatsile: Pithecellobium dulce PIER species: Pithecellobium dulce Manila Tamarind: Pithecellobium dulce Mexican Government's Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity: Pithecellobium dulce

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pithecellobium dulce

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pithecellobium dulce claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pithecellobium dulce before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pithecellobium dulce ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pithecellobium dulce

In research: Pithecellobium dulce appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pithecellobium dulce in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pithecellobium dulce is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Edible legumes, Flora of Central America, Flora of Colombia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pithecellobium dulce outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pithecellobium dulce in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pithecellobium dulce means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pithecellobium dulce out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pithecellobium dulce in simple terms?

Why does Pithecellobium dulce matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pithecellobium dulce?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pithecellobium dulce.