Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.

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Associated Forest Cover:

Monkey-pod is frequently found on old home sites near streams in  the forests of Hawaii where it is usually associated with mango  (Mangifera indica), ti (Cordyline terminalis), guava  (Psidium guajava), another escaped domestic plants. Where  naturalized, is associated primarily with grasses, although  occasionally with such trees or shrubs as koa-haole (Leucaena  leucocephala), Java-plum (Eugenia cumini), and  Christmas-berry (Schinus terebinthifolius).

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm

Special Uses:

The pods contain a sweet edible pulp that supplies nutritious food  for animals. Children also chew on the pods, which have a  licoricelike flavor (3). Monkey-pod has long been a  favorite of plant physiologists for studies of nyctinastic leaf  movements (9).

    Although the tree is commonly used as a shade tree in parking  lots, it is undesirable for this purpose because of the sticky  flowers, gum, and seed pods that fall from it during much of the  year.

    Monkey-pod wood has been reported as hard and heavy (12), and  difficult to work (3,4). Actually, in Hawaii and elsewhere in the  Pacific where it has been used much more extensively than in its  native habitat, the wood is considered easy to work, particularly  because low shrinkage during drying allows it to be machined  while green. Articles made from green wood can be dried without  serious drying degrade (10). In Hawaii, monkey-pod has been the  premier craftwood used for carved and turned souvenir bowls since  1946. As labor costs increased, however, the industry spread to  the Philippines and Thailand, which now supply most of the  monkey-pod bowls for which Hawaii is famous.

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm

Damaging Agents:

Monkey-pod on the Island of Oahu, HI, is  badly defoliated each year by three caterpillars, Melipotis  indomita, Ascalapha odorata, and Polydesma umbricola,  with most damage attributed to M. indomita (13). The  trees promptly leaf out after defoliation, so are not stressed  for long.

    Stressed trees, however, are sometimes attacked by the monkeypod  roundheaded borer (Xystrocera globosa), which makes large  galleries in the sapwood (11). In Puerto Rico, ants (Myrmelachista  ramulorum) bore into branchlets, resulting in defoliation and  leaf deformation (14). The defoliators can be controlled with  insecticides applied to the tree trunks (13). The tree is  highly susceptible to leaf damage from herbicide overspray.  Leaves are also very susceptible to damage by salt-laden mist  from ocean storms (called 'ehu kai in Hawaiian).

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm

En regiones con una estación seca marcada, estos árboles son protegidos debido a que son excelentes para sombra en cafetales, potreros, etc. Los frutos sirven de alimento para el ganado, lo cual es riesgoso ya que las semillas poseen el alcaloide pitecolobina, que es tóxico, con propiedades abortivas. Medicinalmente se ha empleado contra dolores de cabeza y diarreas.

La mejor época para la recolección de las semillas son los meses de febrero a marzo. El número de frutos por kilogramo es aprox. 70, con un promedio de 4000-7700 semillas.La madera es dura, pesada, de fibra retorcida, díficil de trabajar, la albura se diferencia notablemente del duramen; seca al aire con rapidez moderada, pero los defectos debido al secado son considerables. Se utiliza en construcción en general, muebles, ebanistería, forros interiores, de las secciones transversales de troncos gruesos se hacen ruedas de carretas, parquet, artezonados etc.Este bellísimo árbol se ha utilizado como ornamental en plazoletas, por su exuberante follaje y su atractiva floración, por la frescura que de él se recibe se le ha llamado el árbol de la lluvia.
Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorNelson Zamora, Mery Ocampo, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad Costa Rica (INBio)
Sourcehttp://darnis.inbio.ac.cr/ubis/FMPro?-DB=UBIPUB.fp3&-lay=WebAll&-error=norec.html&-Format=detail.html&-Op=eq&-Find=&id=1450

Reaction to Competition:

Monkey-pod is intolerant of  shade. The leaves of shaded branches remain folded during the day  and contribute little photosynthate. Shaded branches die back and  improve the form of trees that shade each other.

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm

Albizia saman:

Albizia saman (sometimes treated under the obsolete name Samanea saman) is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the Neotropics. Its range extends from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil, but it has been widely introduced to South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. Common names include saman, rain tree and monkeypod (see also below). It is often placed in the genus Samanea,[2] which by yet other authors is subsumed in Albizia entirely.



Description[edit]


Pink-flowered rain tree pollinated by a black wasp
Kolkata, West Bengal (India).

Saman is a wide-canopied tree with a large symmetrical crown. It usually reaches a height of 25 m (82 ft) and a diameter of 40 m. The leaves fold in rainy weather and in the evening, hence the name "rain tree" and "five o'clock tree" (Pukul Lima) in Malay. Several lineages of this tree are available, e.g., with reddish pink and creamish golden colored flowers.


A giant specimen near Kanchanaburi, Thailand, known locally as chamchuri-yak (จามจุรียักษ์). "Chamchuri" is the Thai name of the tree species, whereas "yak" is the Thai pronunciation of yaksha, a mythical demon, referring in this context to the monstrous size of the tree.

During his 1799–1804 travels in the Americas, Alexander von Humboldt encountered a giant saman tree near Maracay, Venezuela. He measured the circumference of the parasol-shaped crown at 576 ft (about 180.8 m[3]), its diameter was around 190 ft (about 59.6 m), on a trunk at 9 ft (about 2.8 m) in diameter and reaching just 60 ft (nearly 19 m) in height. Humboldt mentioned the tree was reported to have changed little since the Spanish colonization of Venezuela; he estimated it to be as old as the famous Canary Islands dragon tree (Dracaena draco) of Icod de los Vinos on Tenerife.[4]

The tree, called Samán del Guère (transcribed Zamang del Guayre by von Humboldt) still stands today, and is a Venezuelan national treasure. Just like the dragon tree on Tenerife, the age of the saman in Venezuela is rather indeterminate. As von Humboldt's report makes clear, according to local tradition, it would be older than 500 years today, which is rather outstanding by the genus' standards. It is certain, however, the tree is quite more than 200 years old today, but it is one exceptional individual; even the well-learned von Humboldt could not believe it was actually the same species as the saman trees he knew from the greenhouses at Schönbrunn Castle.[5]

Large branches of the tree tend to break off, particularly during rainstorms. This can be hazardous as the tree is very commonly used for avenue plantation.

Gallery[edit]

Names[edit]

Albizia saman is a well-known tree, rivalled perhaps only by lebbeck and pink siris among its genus. It is well represented in many languages and has numerous local names in its native range. Most names that originated in Europe (where the tree hardly grows at all) are some variety of "rain tree". The original name, saman - known in many languages and used for the specific epithet - derives from zamang, meaning "Mimosoideae tree" in some Cariban languages of northern Venezuela.[5]

The name "rain tree" was coined in tropical India, especially Bengal. Its origin is the moisture that collects on the ground under the tree, largely the honeydew-like discharge of cicadas feeding on the leaves.

  • English: saman, rain tree, monkey pod, giant thibet, inga saman,[6] cow tamarind,[7] East Indian walnut,[8] soar, suar.
Grenada: coco tamarind[7]
Guyana: French tamarind[7]
  • Spanish: cenízaro, acacia preta, árbol de lluvia (rain tree), genízaro
Cuba: algarrobo
Central America: carreto, cenicero, dormilon, genizaro, zarza
Colombia: campano, saman
Venezuela: carabeli, couji, lara, urero, samán

In the Caribbean region, it is occasionally called marsave.

  • Sanskrit: Shiriisha
  • Bengali: shirish শিরীষ
  • Gujarati: shirish
  • Hindi: vilaiti siris सीरस
  • Kannada: Bhagaya mara
  • Malayalam: chakkarakkay maram ചക്കരക്കായ്‌ മരം
  • Marathi: vilayati shirish (exotic shirish)
  • Sinhalese: mara
  • Tamil: thoongu moonji maram தூங்குமூஞ்சி மரம் (Literal translation is tree with a sleeping face, actual meaning is sleepy tree. Refers to leaves closing in the evening)
  • Telugu: nidra ganneru తెలుగు
  • Indonesian/Malay: pukul lima (five o'clock tree, in Malaysia), pokok hujan (rain tree)
  • Javanese: trembesi
  • Khmer ampil barang (French tamarind)
  • Malagasy: bonara(mbaza), kily vazaha, madiromany, mampihe, mampohehy
  • Sundanese: ki hujan (rain tree)
  • Thai: จามจุรี [dsha:m-dshu-ri:] jamjuree
  • Vietnamese: còng, muồng tím, cây mưa (rain tree)

As an introduced plant on Fiji, it is called in some regions vaivai (ni vavalagi), from vaivai "watery" (in allusion to the tree's "rain") + vavalagi "foreign". In some parts of Vanua Levu, Fiji the word vaivai is used to describe the lebbeck, because of the sound the seedpods make, and the word mocemoce (sleepy, or sleeping) is used for A. saman due to the 'sleepiness' of its leaves.

CO2 Sequestration[edit]

According to a research conducted at the School of Forestry of the Bogor Agricultural Institute, Indonesia, a mature tree with a crown diameter measuring 15 meters absorbed 28.5 tons of CO2 annually. The trees have been planted in cities of Kudus and Demak and also will be planted along the shoulder of the road from Semarang to Losari.[9]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved May 16, 2014. 
  2. ^ "Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2010-02-03. Retrieved 2010-03-25. 
  3. ^ Presuming von Humboldt used the Magdeburg foot of 1755, introduced in Prussia in 1793, which was 1.044 ft (31.385 cm).
  4. ^ von Humboldt & Bonpland (1820): pp.98-100
  5. ^ a b von Humboldt & Bonpland (1820): p.99 footnote
  6. ^ It is a rather close relative to the ingas.
  7. ^ a b c Among the legumes, it is not very closely related to tamarinds.
  8. ^ It is not at all closely related to walnuts.
  9. ^ http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/05/18/save-earth-planting-trembesi.html

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Albizia saman.
Wikispecies has information related to: Albizia saman
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Rights holder/AuthorWikipedia
Sourcehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albizia_saman&oldid=654198597

Rooting Habit:

Depth of rooting varies with amount of  rainfall (3,5). In dry areas with less than 1270 mm (50 in)  annual rainfall, monkey-pod roots deeply. In wet areas, the root  system develops at or near the soil surface and can become a  problem in gardens or near paved roads.

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm

Comments: Record (1924) treats Enterolobium Saman Prain as the accepted name for this species. Mimosa Saman Jacq., Inga Saman Willd., Pithecolobium Saman Benth., Calliandra Saman Gris., Samanea Saman Merrill and Albizia Saman were given as synonyms.

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Rights holder/AuthorNatureServe
Sourcehttp://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Albizia+saman

Leguminosae -- Legume family

    Roger G. Skolmen

    Monkey-pod (Pithecellobium saman), samán in  Spanish, is a fast-growing tree that has been introduced to many  tropical countries throughout the world from its native habitats  in Central America and northern South America. Although generally  planted as a shade tree and ornamental, it has been naturalized  in many countries and is greatly valued in pastures as shade for  cattle. Short-boled, with a spreading crown when open grown, it  forms a long, relatively straight stem when closely spaced. Its  wood is highly valued in some locations for carvings and  furniture (7).

    The most widely used common name for the species is raintree, from  the belief that the tree produces rain at night. The leaflets  close up at night or when under heavy cloud cover, allowing rain  to pass easily through the crown. This trait may contribute to  the frequently observed fact that grass remains green under the  trees in times of drought. However, the shading effect of the  crown, the addition of nitrogen to the soil by decomposition of  litter from this leguminous tree, and possibly, the sticky  droppings of cicada insects in the trees all contribute to this  phenomenon (3). The Hawaiian common name, monkey-pod, is used  here because it is a logical derivation of the scientific name  Pithecellobium (monkey earring in Greek). Besides  monkey-pod, raintree, and saman, which is its name throughout  Latin America, the tree is called mimosa in the Philippines.

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm

Vegetative Reproduction:

Monkey-pod roots easily  Hardwood (leafless) cuttings, ranging in size from 1 by 15 cm  (0.4 by 6 in) to stems and branches of mature trees, can be  rooted in moist soil on a site without use of mist or shade. In  Honolulu, it is common practice to transplant huge trees by  cutting away almost all the roots and all the branches. Trees  grown at close spacing in the forest frequently have branch-free  stems 4 to 5 in (13 to 16 ft) tall and are transplanted to  parking lots and parks as "instant" full-size shade  trees. Despite the ease with which it can be vegetatively  propagated, monkey-pod is almost always started from seed.

Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Rights holder/AuthorRoger G. Skolmen, Silvics of North America
Sourcehttp://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_2/pithecellobium/saman.htm
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