Scientific Name : Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.
Common Name : Rain Tree, Pukul Lima, Cow Tamarind, Hujan-Hujan, East Indian Walnut, Monkey-pod, Saman
Chinese Name : 雨樹
Family : MIMOSACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origin | Native to northern tropical South America. |
|---|---|
| Meanings of Name | The generic name Samanea and specific epithet saman come from a linguistic adaptation of the tree's vernacular Spanish name zaman, which means ‘Mimosa-like tree’’ in northern Venezuela. The common name ‘Rain Tree’ refers to the folding behavior of its leaves before rain. According to legend, Simón Bolívar, the political leader and army general of Venezuela (1783–1830), is credited with leading five Latin American countries—Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia to independence from Spanish rule. Bolívar camped his entire liberation army near Maracay, a city in central Venezuela, under a huge saman tree. The locals call this tree ‘saman de guerra’, which translates to ‘saman of war’ in Spanish-Portuguese. |
| Vitality | Rain Tree prefers a full sun environment and is tolerant to waterlogged soils. |
| Ecology | Usually grows in dry forests and savannahs of tropical Americas. |
| Application | The sticky, sweet, liquorice-flavored pulp from seed pods could be eaten fresh or processed into a lemon-like beverage. The timber of Rain Tree is durable and favored for crafts, furniture, boat building, carvings (such as traditional Hawaiian tikis), and paneling. Trunks have been processed into oxcart wheels in Central America. The timbers are used to create paper, premium charcoal, and firewood. The fruit has medicinal properties; sore throats could be relieved by chewing seeds, and diarrhea could be treated by drinking an infusion of fresh leaves and inner bark as tea. A decoction of bark or roots in hot baths could alleviate stomach cancer. Additionally, leaf extracts have been reported to inhibit the bacterium that causes various forms of tuberculosis. |
| Growing Habit | Deciduous tree, with symmetrically umbrella-shaped. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 10-25 m tall. |
| Stem | Symmetrically umbrella-shaped with wide-spreading branches. Dark brown, longitudinal cracks increase with age, and flaking in long strips. Branchlets puberulent to tomentose. |
| Leaves | Leaves alternate, bipinnately-compound, glands at junctions of pinnae and leaflets; leaflets 3-8 pairs, asymmetrically oblong, abaxially pubescent, adaxially shiny, base half rounded, half truncate, apex rounded or obtuse, often emarginate and mucronulate. Leaflets fold up in early evening and during overcast days. |
| Flower | Calyx funnel-shaped; corolla red or yellowish red; stamens white at base, purple toward apex, staminal tube shorter than corolla tube. Central flowers sessile; staminal tube longer than corolla. Slightly fragrant and attractive to bees. |
| Fruit | Legume black, oblong, compressed, sutures thickened, septate between seeds. Contains numerous dark brown seeds embedded in sticky, sweet-smelling, brownish-black pulp. |
| Seed | Seeds brown, ellipsoidal. |
| Flowering Period | August to September in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website:
https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=9003
Scientific Names from Other Databases
―Flora of China: Samanea saman (Jacquin) Merrill J. Wash. Acad.
―GBIF: Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merrill