Hymenaea L. is a genus in the family Fabaceae (legume family) of fourteen living plant species. All but one of the living species are native to the tropics of the Americas, with one additional species (Hymenaea verrucosa) on the east coast of Africa. The genus is distributed through the Caribbean islands, and from southern Mexico to Brazil. In Colombia the trees are called algarrobo, and in Peru azúcar huayo. The Brazilian name is jatobá. Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as , (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[1] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic grouping. ... A family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family consists of a domestic group of people (or a number of domestic groups), typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by comparable legal relationships — including domestic partnership, adoption, surname and (in some cases) ownership (as occurred in the Roman Empire). ... Subfamilies Faboideae Caesalpinioideae Mimosoideae References GRIN-CA 2002-09-01 The name Fabaceae belongs to either of two families, depending on viewpoint. ... Varieties of soybean seeds, a popular legume Pea pods The term legume has two closely related meanings in botany, a situation encountered with many botanical common names of useful plants, whereby an applied name can refer to either the plant itself, or to the edible fruit (or useful part). ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... World map showing the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere historically considered to consist of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... For other uses, see Africa (disambiguation). ... World map depicting Caribbean: West Indies redirects here. ... Binomial name Hymenaea courbaril L. Jatobá, Hymenaea courbaril, is a South American tree, also known as the copal, red locus, locust, copinol, Brazilian cherry, stinking tree, kawanari, guapinol, algarrobo, and rode locus. ...

Most species of Hymenaea are large trees and they are primarily evergreen. They may grow to a height of 25 meters and emerge above the forest canopy. Some species will grow both as tall forest trees and as smaller shrubby trees depending on their surrounding habitat. The leaves are bifoliate, meaning that they have two leaflets attached to the petiole. The flowers grow in a panicle or corymb type of inflorescence. The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ... A Silver Fir shoot showing three successive years of retained leaves In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant which retains its leaves year-round, with each leaf persisting for more than 12 months. ... The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... Eucalyptus Forest at Swifts Creek in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. ... A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). ... Habitat (from the Latin for it inhabits) is the place where a particular species lives and grows. ... The leaves of a Beech tree A leaf with laminar structure and pinnate venation In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ... A leaflet in botany is a part of a compound leaf. ... A petiole (also called a pedicel) is the first abdominal segment of members of the Apocrita. ... Clivia miniata bears bright orange flowers. ... White-fruited Rowan (Sorbus glabrescens) corymb; note the branched structures holding the fruits. ... White-fruited Rowan (Sorbus glabrescens) corymb; note the branched structure A panicle is a compound raceme; a branched, indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers (and fruit) attached along the secondary branches (in another words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes). ... An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers on a branch of a plant. ...

Uses

The pulpy center of the fruits are edible, and the fruit is sold in local markets in the Americas. The leaves may be used to make a tea. The trees produce a dense wood used for timber in making ships and furniture. The thick bark of some species is used by indigenous people of the Amazon to make canoes. Fruit stall in Barcelona, Catalonia. ... Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood... A Hupa man, 1923 The term Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the inhabitants of the Americas before the European discovery of the Americas in the late 15th century, as well as many present-day ethnic groups who identify themselves with those historical peoples. ... Amazonian redirects here, for other uses see Amazonian (disambiguation) The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. ... A canoe is a relatively small boat, typically human-powered, but also commonly sailed. ...

The trees also make hard resins that are used to manufacture varnish, especially the resin from Hymenaea courbaril (jatobá) in Brazil. The resin that is produced in Brazil is known as South American copal, and Hymenaea verrucosa is the source of the valuable Zanzibar copal. Resin may be collected from living trees, or from the soil near the place where a tree once stood. Throughout its American range, indigenous peoples use the resin for incense and as a cement. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics. Resin of a pine Insect trapped in resin. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Copal is a type of resin, sometimes referred to as pom (the Maya language name). ... Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar (IPA pronunciation: ), as used today, is the collective name for two East African islands off mainland Tanzania: Unguja (also called Zanzibar) and Pemba. ... Incense is a preparation of aromatic plant matter, often with the addition of essential oils extracted from plant or animal sources, intended to release fragrant smoke for religious, therapeutic, or aesthetic purposes as it smolders. ... Binomial name Hymenaea protera Poinar Hymenaea protera is an extinct prehistoric leguminous tree, the probable ancestor of present-day Hymenaea species. ... Dominican Amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by the fact that it is nearly always transparent and has the highest amount of fossil enclosures. ...

See also

• Dominican amber
• Animé, an oleo-resin from Hymenaea species.
• Jatobá, the economically important Brazilian tree H. courbaril.

Dominican Amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by the fact that it is nearly always transparent and has the highest amount of fossil enclosures. ... Anim is an ole-resi (said to be so calledbecausen its natural state it is infested with insects) which is discharsed from the locustree, Hymenaea coumaril, and other species of Hymnaea growing in tropical South America. ... Binomial name Hymenaea courbaril L. Jatobá, Hymenaea courbaril, is a South American tree, also known as the copal, red locus, locust, copinol, Brazilian cherry, stinking tree, kawanari, guapinol, algarrobo, and rode locus. ...

References

• Gentry, Alwyn H. (1996). A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-28944-3.
• Lee, Yin-Tse & Langenheim, Jean H. (1975). Sytematics of the Genus Hymenaea L. (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, Detarieae). University of California Publications in Botany 69.
• Mabberley, D. J. (1987). The Plant Book: A Portable Dictionary of the Higher Plants. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34060-8.
• Poinar, George Jr. & Brown, Alex E. (2002). Hymenaea mexicana sp. nov. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) from Mexican amber indicates Old World connections. Botanical J. of the Linnaean Soc. 139(2): 125.