Skip to content
sintropia.club
PT EN

Plants

ice cream bean

Inga edulis Mart.

Family: Fabaceae · Genus: Inga

inga

Secondary I High Fertilizer biomass 🌱 Nitrogen fixer 🪓 Coppices after cutting
Burkhard Mücke · CC BY-SA · Wikimedia Commons

Essential nitrogen fixer in syntropic systems. Coppices readily after drastic pruning and produces large volumes of fertilizer biomass.

📚 Synonyms

Scientific synonyms: Inga vera Kunth, Inga edulis var. parviflora Benth., Feuilleea edulis (Mart.) Kuntze, Mimosa inga Vell., Inga scabriuscula Benth.

Götsch succession

Götsch stage
Secondary I
Ecological role
Early secondary
Primary stratum
High
Strata
High, Medium
Biomass class
Fertilizer biomass

Environment

Light requirement
Full sun
Water requirement
High
Drought tolerance
Moderate
Waterlogging tolerance
Moderate
Soil pH range
5–7
Preferred soil texture
Loamy, Clayey, Sandy
Hardiness zones
10–13
Frost tolerance
-2.0 °C

Morphology

Mature height
10–18 m
Recommended spacing
4–7 m
Root system
Lateral
Root depth
Medium
Growth rate
Fast
Lifespan
15–40 years
Time to first harvest
36 months
Productive lifespan
30 years

Biomes & climate

Köppen classes

Where it fits in a guild

Ice cream bean takes the High stratum in the Secondary I phase of succession — in a guild it shares the line with species from the other strata, each harvesting light at its own height, in its own time. It also fixes nitrogen, feeding the soil for its line neighbors.

Design my guild

Free account — and the catalog stays open, no sign-up needed.

Emergent High · ≈18 m Medium Low Ground cover

🪴 Cultivation

A tree for acid soils of the humid tropics; particularly acid-tolerant, outgrowing other legumes on such soils. Grows well even on poor, depleted soils. Tolerates floodplains waterlogged for 2–3 months and is remarkably drought-resistant (dry seasons up to 6 months). Recalcitrant seed germinates within days (95–100%); seedlings ready 4–5 months after transplanting.

✂️ Management & Pruning

Tolerates drastic coppicing — returns nitrogen to the system via leaves and branches.

📅 Phenology

Flowering months: September, October, November, December

Fruiting months: January, February, March, December

❓ Frequently asked questions

How long until the first harvest of ice cream bean?

The first harvest of ice cream bean comes around 36 months after planting.

What spacing is recommended for ice cream bean?

The recommended spacing for ice cream bean is 4–7 m.

How tall does ice cream bean grow?

At maturity, ice cream bean reaches 10–18 m tall.

When does ice cream bean fruit?

Fruiting of ice cream bean occurs in January, February, March, December.

When does ice cream bean flower?

Flowering of ice cream bean occurs in September, October, November, December.

What stage and stratum does ice cream bean occupy in a syntropic system?

In a syntropic system, ice cream bean belongs to the secondary i stage, occupying the high stratum.

Does ice cream bean fix nitrogen?

Yes — ice cream bean is a nitrogen-fixing species that helps fertilize the system's soil.

Functions

🌱 Nitrogen fixer 🌿 Biomass producer 🪴 Nurse plant 🍎 Fruit

Propagation

Seed, Air layering, Cutting

Citations

  1. Pasini, F. (2017) in Guimarães & Mendonça (Incaper) , p. 45 (gotsch_stage, nitrogen_fixer, biomass_class)
  2. Useful Tropical Plants — Inga edulis (waterlogging_tolerance, propagation, phenology, frost_tolerance_c, cultivation_notes, synonyms)
  3. Winrock FACT Net — Inga edulis, a tree for acid soils in the humid tropics (cultivation_notes)
  4. GBIF species match API — Inga edulis Mart. (external_ids)
  5. IPNI — Inga edulis Mart. (external_ids)

External references

Continue exploring

Related plants