''Delonix edulis'' ( Malagasy:''Tara'') is a species of edible wild plant native to southwest

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The plant grows in semi-arid tropical zones with annual rainfall less than 400 mm, from sea level up to 100 meters elevation. The plant is classified in subfamily

Caesalpinioideae Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name '' Caesalpinia''. It is known also as the peacock flower subfamily. The Caesalpinioideae a ...

of family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. The scientific synonym ''Lemuropisum edule'' means ''edible lemur's pea''. The species is currently under investigation as a potential nut crop in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Description

Unarmed, multistemmed, much branched, spreading

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

up to 4–6 m tall, crown dense, branchlets sometimes spine-like. Leaves sparse, semi-persistent, paripinnate, with 1-4 pairs of oval to suborbicular leaflets, 3.5–6 mm wide. Inflorescence a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

; flowers bisexual, with 4 white petals and 1 tinged yellow. Flowers are night-opening, with long stamens and a nectariferous upper petal shaped as a narrow tubular claw. Fruit pendent, subcylindric, depressed between the seeds, 20–30 cm long, 2 cm wide, 2-valved, valves membraneous, dehiscent; seeds 6-12, ovoid-reniform, 2.5 cm long, 1.6 cm across, testa thin and brittle. night opening flowers, white petals with long dark stamens and an upper petal with a narrow tubular nectariferous claw

Range and habitat

''Delonix edulis'' is endemic to coastal southwestern Madagascar, where it has a restricted and fragmented range. Its main population is around Itampolo. It grows in spiny thickets and coastal bushland with species of '' Alluaudia'' and succulent ''

Euphorbia ''Euphorbia'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees, with perhaps the tallest being ''Eu ...

'' on limestone and coastal sand substrates. The species' night-opening flowers are thought to be pollinated by moths. The species is threatened with habitat loss from livestock grazing and forest clearance, and from over-harvesting for firewood and charcoal.

Cultivation

Not cultivated in Madagascar. In Australia, after soaking the seeds for 10 hours, germination is rapid. Alkaline soils preferred. Nuts (seeds) are harvested from the ground following dehiscence. Nuts eaten raw, discarding the brittle testa, the cotyledons agreeably sweet with a

cashew Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...

-like flavour, smooth consistency and a flexible, rather plastic texture. Apparently not used in cooking; when eaten green the flavour is reminiscent of fresh garden peas.

Nutritional value

The nuts contain 38-43% available

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s, 26-32% unavailable carbohydrates, 14-16%

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

and 6-9%

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

, comparing favourably with those of '' Cordeauxia edulis''. However, the ingestion of 100 g kernels, ca. 84 raw seeds, may inhibit human production of

chymotrypsin Chymotrypsin (, chymotrypsins A and B, alpha-chymar ophth, avazyme, chymar, chymotest, enzeon, quimar, quimotrase, alpha-chymar, alpha-chymotrypsin A, alpha-chymotrypsin) is a digestive enzyme component of pancreatic juice acting in the duodenu ...

and cause digestive upsets, although this could possibly be reduced by cooking or roasting the seeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1= Q90444328, from2=Q6521613 Endemic flora of Madagascar edulis Plants described in 1938 Flora of the Madagascar spiny thickets Taxa named by Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Edible nuts and seeds