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Platymiscium pinnatum
Fabaceae FAMILY

Platymiscium pinnatum

Platymiscium pinnatum

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
GrowthMedium

A plant of tropical lowland areas, where it is found at elevations up to 600 metres[1]. Prefers a mean annual temperature of 23 - 26°c[1]. Succeeds in areas where the mean annual rainfall varies from 1,500 - 3,000mm[1]. Prefers a position in full sun[2]. Grows best in a deep, fertile, moisture-retentive soil[2]. Established plants are fairly drought tolerant[2]. Fairly fast-growing according to one report[2], but slow-growing according to another[2]. 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[3].

Propagation

Seed - Cuttings Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Platymiscium+pinnatum>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Tropical Tree Seed Manual — Vosso. J. Editor. · USDA Forest Service. · 2002 · http://www.rngr.net/Publications/ttsm ↩︎An extremely good guide, it can also be downloaded in its entirety from the address shown above.
  2. [2]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
  3. [3]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.
  4. [4]A Century of Trees of Panama. — Pittier H. Mell C.D. · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎A work that was very difficult to get published according to the correspondence contained at the start!. A treatment of 100 different species with descriptions and details of uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  5. [5]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/
  6. [6]Ptatymiscium (Leguminosae: Dalbergieae): Biogeography Systematics, Morphology, Taxonomy and Uses. — Kitgaard B.B. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 2005 ↩︎A revision of the genus Platymiscium.
  7. [7]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  8. [8]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]Tropix 7 — CIRAD · http://tropix.cirad.fr/en ↩︎An on-line guide to the timbers of 245 species of trees.