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Writer's pictureEco-Logic Resort

Hummingbird tree, aka Sesbania

Dok khae| ดอกแค | Sesbania Grandiflora

Family: Fabaceae - Genus: Sesbania

You can find this tree near the restaurant of Eco-Logic and close to the school of the Thai Child Development Foundation. The trees are always in areas with full sun.

 

Sesabania ia a tree, a fast-growing tree. The leaves are regular and rounded and the flowers white, red or pink. The fruits look like flat, long, thin green beans. The tree thrives under full exposure to sunshine. The flowers are edible.

The tree blooms all year.


 

The papaya is a small, sparsely branched tree, usually with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 meter tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is usually scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. All parts of the plant contain latex.
Tree

THE TREE

It is a fast-growing tree. The leaves are regular and rounded and the flowers white, red or pink.

It is a small soft wooded tree up to 3–8 meter tall.



 

The leaves of the papaya are large, 50-70 cm in diameter, with seven lobes.
Leaf

LEAVES

Leaves are 15–30 centimeter long, with leaflets in 10–20 pairs or more and an odd one.

The leaves are edible and can be used as a vegetable in a stir fry.





 

The flowers are five-parted; the male flowers have the stamens fused to the petals. The female flowers have a superior ovary and five contorted petals loosely connected at the base. The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night, and wind- or insect-pollinated.
FLOWER

FLOWERS

The flowers are eaten as a vegetable in Thailand both cooked in curries, and raw, blanched or as a tempura like dish.

Flower clusters hanging at leaf base have 2-5 large flowers; pink, red or white,, 5-10 centimeter in length, curved, about 3 cm wide before opening.



 
The fruit is a large berry that is generally spherical or cylinder in form and about 15–45 centimeter  long and 10–30 centimeter in diameter. The fruit grows on the stem of the tree.
Fruit

FRUIT/SEED PODS

The fruits look like flat, long, thin green beans, and can also be eaten when young. The pods are long and narrow, hanging down 30-50 centimeter by 8 mm; septate, wide, flat, with swollen margins and about 15-40 pale-colored seeds; seed is beanlike, elliptical, red brown, 6-8 in a pod, 3.5 mm.



 

CULINARY USES OF SESBANIA GRANDIFLORA

The flowers, seedpods, young leaves and shoots can be consumed raw or cooked. The seeds can be fermented into tempeh.


The bark yields a clear gum used in foods and as substitute to gum arabic.



Flowers can be eaten raw or cooked. They can be added to salads, boiled, fried or used in curries. Rich in sugar and iron, with a flavor like mushrooms. The center part of the flower is usually removed because it is very bitter. White flowers are generally preferred to red ones.


Seedpods can be eaten- raw or cooked. The long, narrow pods are boiled and eaten like string beans. The very young seedpods can be added to salads.


Seed. The protein rich seeds are fermented into tempeh.


Young leaves and shoots can be eaten raw or cooked. Added to salads, cooked or added to stews.

 

NUTRITION

The leaves contain:

water, protein, fat, NFE, fiber, ash, Ca, P, Fe, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid.


The flowers contain:

protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber, ash, Ca, P, Fe, Na, K, b-carotene equivalent, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid.


Seeds contain :

CP, fat, total carbohydrate, and ash.

 

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USE OF SESBANIA GRANDIFLORA


NOTE: please take advice from a doctor if you are planning to use herbal medicine.

Sesbania also has medicinal uses. It is used for sprains, bruises, swellings, rheumatism, itching, diarrhea, colic, dysentery, diabetes, fever, sinus congestion, and malaria. Further, it is said to have the capability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and can be used as green manure to improve soil conditions.

 

INTO THE WILD: a down to earth experience

For guests and visitors to Paksong we organize weekly tours "The Edible Forest" and Foraging weekends: Into the Wild. We work with local guides to take you in the jungle of Paksong. After foraging, we will cook a meal with the ingredients, using bamboo together with you!


Come and join and learn about the abundance of food that nature gives us!


INTO THE WILD!

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