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Ormosia macrocalyx
Fabaceae FAMILY

Ormosia macrocalyx

Ormosia macrocalyx

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

The plants, but especially the seed and perhaps also the bark, of many if not all species in this genus contain alkaloids and are toxic[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria; these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[2].

Propagation

Like many species within the family Fabaceae, once they have been dried for storage the seeds of this species may benefit from scarification before sowing in order to speed up and improve germination. This can usually be done by pouring a small amount of nearly boiling water on the seeds (being careful not to cook them!) and then soaking them for 12 - 24 hours in warm water. By this time they should have imbibed moisture and swollen - if they have not, then carefully make a nick in the seedcoat (being careful not to damage the embryo) and soak for a further 12 hours before sowing[PFAF]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Ormosia+macrocalyx>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Botanical Museum Leaflets Vol 21 — Botanical Museum; Cambridge, Massachusetts · 1963 - 1967 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎A series of botanical articles. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  2. [2]Nodulation Plants in GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture · http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxnodul.pl?language=en ↩︎An online database listing plants that have either positive or negative reports on root and stem nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
  3. [3]Flora of Barro Colorado Island — Croat. Thomas B. · Stanford University Press · 1978 · http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/croat/home · ISBN 0-8047-0950-5 ↩︎A very good flora of an area in Panama. Written some years ago, so some of the names have been changed. The book is out of print, but the whole flora is now available on the web.
  4. [4]Tree Species of Panama — http://ctfs.arnarb.harvard.edu/webatlas/mainframe.php?order=s ↩︎Factsheets on all the tree and shrub species of Panama, giving identification guide, brief guide to the species and some uses. A vast, but rather incomplete work as of 15/07/09.
  5. [5]Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 32 — Rudd V.E. · Smithsonian Institution Press; Washington. · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Monographs of several species in the family Fabaceae, including the Ormosia that occur in the Americas. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  6. [6]Illustrated Guide to the Trees of Peru — Pennington, T.D.; Reynel, C. & Daza, A. · David Hunt; Sherbourne, England. · 2004 · ISBN 0 9538134 3 6 ↩︎A very terse guide to the trees of Peru, managing to give basic guides to a large number of genera, with more detail on a few species in each genus.
  7. [7]Botanical Beads — Smith R.J. · http://www.botanicalbeads.com/ ↩︎A website looking at seeds that are used for ornament. It is based on a book that the author had written.
  8. [8]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
  9. [9]Tropical Timbers of the World. Ag. Handbook No. 607. — Chudnoff. Martin. · USDA Forest Service. Wisconsin. · 1984 ↩︎Terse details on the properties of the wood of almost 400 species of trees from the Tropics.
  10. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎