Fabaceae

Abstract

Numerous trees and bushes in the pea or bean family (Fabaceae) produce fruits eaten by people, turtles, and fish. Some 300 species of Inga are found scattered throughout the American tropics and many of them bear fruits that are eaten locally as well as taken to markets. The fruits of at least a dozen species of Inga are gathered in the wild in the Peruvian Amazon and several are also cultivated. Promoters of agroforestry are often keen on Inga because, in addition to edible fruit, the trees enrich the soil with nitrogen because they are legumes (Fabaceae). The branches of Inga trees can be lopped off to provide mulch to suppress weeds and build up organic matter in the soil. Inhabitants of the Peruvian Amazon have long gathered fruits of several wild species, often lumping them under the name shimbillo. In the Brazilian Amazon, however, all useful species of Inga are called ingá with a suffix for each species. In some cases, a separate name is given to species of Inga in the Peruvian Amazon, depending on location. Along the Ucayali, for example, the fruits of shimbillo (also called paihuaro; Inga nobilis) and shimbillo (also called pairafo, Inga ruiziana) are gathered in the higher portions of floodplain forests for domestic consumption. Other species are gathered in the wild as well as planted in home gardens, such as vaca paleta (Inga macrophylla), which is more commonly known as shimbillo in markets. Fruits of another shimbillo, Inga cinnamomea, are also gathered in floodplain forests and eaten at home as well as taken to markets.