Inga laurina (Sw.) Willd.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Mimosaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Inga laurina (Sw.) Willd.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub or small tree to 10 m tall; bark gray, smooth, with horizontal lines of lenticels; branches cylindrical, lenticellate, glabrous. Leaves 10-20 cm long; rachis furrowed and slightly flattened along upper surface, with a discoid gland between the pairs of leaflets; leaflets opposite, (1—)2(—3) pairs, 5-12 cm long, elliptic to ovate, coriaceous, the apex acuminate to obtuse, the base obtuse-attenuate, asymmetrical, the margins entire; stipules early deciduous. Spikes axillary, 4-12 cm long. Calyx 1-1.5 mm long, puberulent; corolla 3.5-4 mm long, green; filaments white, 3 times longer than the corolla. Legume 10-15 x 2.5-3 cm, coriaceous, oblong, flattened, green, the thickened margins slightly wavy. Seeds several ca. 2 cm long, oblong, flattened.

  • Discussion

    Mimosa fagifolia L., Sp. PL 516. 1753. Inga fagifolia (L.) Willd. ex Benth., Trans. Linn. Soc. 30: 607. 1875, non G. Don, 1832.

    Common names: lady finger tree, pomshock, Spanish oak, sweet pea

  • Distribution

    A common tree of moist forests. Bordeaux area (A2877, B561). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Greater and Lesser Antilles and Trinidad.

    Trinidad and Tobago South America| West Indies| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|