Inga Mill.

Description of the genus

Trees. Leaves 1-pinnate, paripinnate. Rhachis usually winged, with nectariferous glands between leaflets. Flowers bisexual, in axillary spikes, globose heads, racemes, or umbels. Corolla white, funnel-shaped. Stamens numerous, long-exserted. Pod indehiscent. Seeds surrounded by fleshy, white pulp.

Derivation of name: from the Tupi indigenous term ingá, which means 'soaked' or 'powdery', alluding to the distinctive, sweet, white, and fibrous pulp (aril) that surrounds the seeds inside the large seed pods, which has a consistency that seems soaked or powdery to

Worldwide: 294 species occurring from Mexico to tropical America

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.

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Links to cultivated taxa    View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesContent
edulis Mart.Description

Other sources of information about Inga:

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Inga
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Inga
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Inga
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Inga
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Inga
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Inga
JSTOR Plant Science: Inga
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Inga
Plants of the World Online: Inga
Tropicos: Inga
Wikipedia: Inga

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-25

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2025). Flora of Zimbabwe: Cultivated plants: genus page: Inga.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/cult/genus.php?genus_id=2847, retrieved 5 December 2025

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