Samanea saman It is a native tree of America and belongs to the Fabaceae family. It is commonly known as samán, cart, ashtray, carob, rain tree, campano, samaguare, bonarambaza, carabeli or sleeper, among others..
This tree is between 20 and 45 m high, its diameter reaches 2 m and its crown is shaped like an umbrella, which provides a very recognizable characteristic due to the wide shade offered by this tree..
The bark is shed in thick scales and is dark gray in color. Its leaves are bright green, alternate and bipinnate. Its flowers are greenish-whitish, whose calyx is funnel-shaped and has striking pink or purple stamens and are arranged in terminal panicles..
Saman is one of the most beautiful trees that inhabit the tropics. Its growth rate is 0.75 to 1.5 m per year, which is considered relatively fast. It is intolerant to cold and shady conditions. Its light requirement is quite high, as it is a heliotropic species.
Its wood is widely used and valued. Used for fine carpentry, cabinetry, veneer, luxury furniture, lumber, canoes, and poles.
This plant species has some medicinal properties such as anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antimalarial, anticancer, for the relief of sore throat, astringent, among others. Its fruits have antibacterial activity against pathogenic microorganisms of human beings.
In the same way, saman is very useful as an ornamental, to shade crops such as coffee or cocoa, it serves as a forage and contributes to the enrichment of nitrogen in the soil..
Article index
It is a tree that measures between 20 and 45 m high, has a diameter between 1 and 2 m, and the crown is very widespread in the shape of an umbrella whose shade can reach up to 55 m in diameter..
Its stem is cylindrical with an elongated base and somewhat crooked growth due to the marked heliotropism that this plant species presents. Its branches are puberulent or tomentose.
The bark of the tree is dark gray in color, rough in appearance, with longitudinal fissures and vertical cracks. The bark is also removable in thick irregular or rectangular flakes..
Saman has bright green foliage. It has alternate, compound, bipinnate leaves (2 - 6 pairs), measuring 12 to 35 cm long and 14 to 32 cm wide. The petiole measures 15 to 40 cm.
The leaves have a pulvulus at the base of the petiole, which causes the leaves to close at night. During the dry period, the trees behave like semi-deciduous, so they lose their leaves for a short time. When this period ends, the tree recovers its foliage quickly and gives the appearance of an evergreen species..
The flowers of the saman are greenish-whitish, have striking pink or purple stamens, and are arranged in terminal panicles.
These flowers are pedicellate and the calyx is funnel-shaped, the corolla is red or yellowish red; on the other hand, the central flowers are sessile.
Generally, flowering occurs between January and April, with some variations in the months depending on the country.
The fruits are legumes or linear pods that are between 10 and 20 cm long and up to 2 cm wide. They are flat, brown-black in color, indehiscent and 6 to 8 seeds are formed inside..
The fruiting of saman occurs from February to June.
Saman seeds are oblong in shape, reddish brown in color, 5 to 8 mm long, surrounded by sweet mucilage..
The wood shows a light or dark brown heartwood, while the sapwood is pale yellow. The specific weight of the wood is 0.48 and it is a medium heavy wood.
The wood is also semi-resistant to fungal attack and resistant to termite attack..
-Kingdom: Plantae
-Phylum: Tracheophyta
-Class: Magnoliopsida
-Subclass: Magnoliidae
-Superorder: Rosanae
-Order: Fabales
-Family: Fabaceae
-Gender: Samanea
-Species: Samanea saman
Some synonyms for this species are Acacia propinqua, Albizia saman, Calliandra saman, Enterolobium saman, Pithecellobium cinereum, Inga cinerea, Inga salutaris, Mimosa saman (basionym), Pithecellobium saman, Zygia saman.
Samanea saman it is a native species of America. It is distributed from Mexico to Paraguay. Likewise, saman is a species that has been introduced in many tropical countries due to its use as an ornamental tree..
It grows from sea level to 1,000 m, in places with dry or humid climates and with rainfall between 800 and 2,500 mm per year. The temperature in these places is between 20 and 35 ° C, and it can tolerate up to six months of drought.
The type of soil in which it develops is sandy loam, or clay loam, with a pH of 5.5 to 7. It tolerates poor soils but must have good drainage..
It is achieved along savannas, grasslands, natural vegetation of deciduous forests, and riparian corridors.
Saman is used mainly as a timber species. Its wood is used to build luxury furniture, poles, cabinets, and other fine finishing materials.
Another important use of saman is as a fodder. A young individual of 5 years can produce 550 kg of green forage, which represents a good feed for animals.
It is used to shade crops that require it, such as coffee. Or for intercropping for example cocoa.
In addition, its ornamental use is applicable to public areas such as parks, school grounds and large homes, among others..
Its ecological use extends to being a place where many epiphytic plant species can live by being attached to its trunk, benefiting from the benefits of being under its canopy, especially in dry environments, such as shade, water, or temperature. cool.
On the other hand, saman is a legume species that forms nodules with bacteria mainly of the genus Bradyrhizobium sp. This allows it to fix nitrogen and enrich the soil in which it grows, thus improving the growth of grasses and species close to it..
Some medicinal properties have been found in saman. It is useful to treat eczema, tuberculosis, as an anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antifungal, antipyretic, and astringent.
Additionally, saman leaves are used in infusion as a laxative. The ground seeds are used to relieve a sore throat. The roots are used to prepare hot baths during the treatment of stomach cancer.
The bark is boiled and used as a poultice to relieve constipation. In addition, the fresh bark and leaves are cooked to treat diarrhea..
Its fruits have an antimicrobial effect. In this sense, the aqueous extract can inhibit bacteria that cause diseases in people such as Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Escherichia coli Y Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Saman is a very heliotropic species, therefore it highly requires the incidence of direct light for its growth..
For the collection of seeds it is recommended to collect them from the tree at the moment when the legumes look dark brown. Subsequently, the fruits are manually broken, their seeds are extracted and immersed in water to eliminate the mucilage..
After removing the mucilage or gum, the seeds are placed on mesh and placed in the sun for a few hours (3-4 h). The seeds are stored in a dry room and hermetically at 4 ° C and 8% humidity. Under these conditions, the seeds can be viable for up to 15 months, while if they are stored at room temperature, they lose their viability within six months..
It is necessary to apply a pregerminative treatment by hydrating the seeds at room temperature for 24 hours, or immersing them in boiling water for 30 seconds.
Seed germination is epigeal and occurs 5 days after sowing, when the radicle emerges and the cotyledons open. This process lasts 17 days, at which point the true leaves appear..
The seedlings must remain in polyethylene bags for about four months until they reach approximately 25 cm in height; then they can be taken to the field.
Saman can also be propagated by stem cuttings, and stump cuttings.
Saman is susceptible to attack by some organisms such as Lepidopteran caterpillars (Ascalapha odorata, Indomitable melipotis, Y Polydesma indomita) which defoliate the tree and cause a serious stress problem to the plant.
Ascalapha odorata It also attacks the seedlings, and these are also defoliated by the lepidoptera Mocis latipes. Ants like Myrmelachista ramulorum defoliate and deform foliage.
On the other hand, the beetle Merobruchis columbinus lays its eggs in immature fruits and the larvae subsequently damages up to 75% of the seeds.
The fly Cecidom yidae lays its eggs in immature fruits and produces abortion. Anypsipyla univitella it is a lepidopteran that lays its eggs in the fruits and damages the pods and seeds.
The borer Xystrocera globosa attacks wood and causes stress on trees. Other animals that can cause damage to fruits or flowers are tapirs, monkeys and parrots..
Yet No Comments