534 



Tamarind 



I. TAMARIND 



GENUS TAMARINDUS [TOURNEFORT] LINN^US 

 Species Tamarindus indica Linnaeus 



HIS handsome tree is a native of the tropics, being found in the East 

 Indies, West Indies, Arabia, and Egypt, also cidtivated and more or 

 less naturalized in all tropical countries; in our area it has become 

 naturahzcd in peninsular Florida and on the Keys. Its maximum 

 height is about 24 meters, with a trunk diameter up to 1.5 meters. 



The branches are numerous and spreading, forming a dense, round-topped 

 tree; the bark is about 6 mm. thick, sHghtly reticulate fissured, and brown; the 

 twigs are zigzag, hairy at first, becoming quite smooth and grayish brown. The 



leaves are evenly pinnate, 7 to 10 cm. long, including 

 the thickened, channelled stalk, with 10 to 18 pairs 

 of sessile oblong leaflets 1.5 to 2 cm. long, blunt at 

 both ends, entire margined, hght green, and promi- 

 nently veined. The flowers, appearing in Florida in 

 April, are in loose racemes on hairy peduncles 7 to 10 

 cm. long; their pedicels are 10 to 12 mm. long; the 

 calyx is tubular, 6 mm. long, smooth, yellowish, with 

 oblong lobes, 2 of which are inferior; corolla of 5 

 petals, the upper 3 large, ovate, the middle one boat- 

 shaped, toothed on the margin, yellow marked with 

 red Hnes, the lower 2 ver}" smafl; stamens 9, in 2 

 series, purphsh, their filaments more or less united, 

 only 3 of them perfect, with oblong anthers; ovary 

 stalked, hair}'; style awl-shaped, with a stigmatic tip. 

 The fruit is a somewhat swollen fleshy pod, dull 

 brown and roughish, about 2.5 cm. broad, ver}^ variable in length and shape, de- 

 pending upon the number of seeds, usually i to 4, often constricted between them; 

 the seeds are ovate in outline, vcr^- angular, flat, about 12 mm. long, red-brown 

 and shining and enclosed in a membranous sac which is surrounded by the thick 

 acidulous pulp; the pod is indehiscent; its hard outer coating is brittle and breaks 

 away from the pulp. 



The wood is hard, close-grained, yellowish white, sometimes brownish; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.95. It is sometimes used in general carpentry, and for 

 charcoal. The pulp of the fruit, which is rich in citric, tartaric, and mahc acids, 

 is preserved in various ways and is used as a laxative or for acidulous bever- 



FiG. 493. Tamarind. 



ages. 



The name is Latinized from the Arabic, Tamar hindy, meaning Indian date, 

 as the fruit of this tree, which is the type species, was called. The East Indian 

 tree has a longer, less brittle coated, and more numerously seeded pod, and is 



