Inga

Taxobox
name = "Inga"

---

image_width = 220px
image_caption = Ice-cream-bean ("Inga edulis") parts drawing
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
subclassis = Rosidae
unranked_ordo = Eurosids I
ordo = Fabales
familia = Fabaceae
subfamilia = Mimosoideae
tribus = Ingeae
genus = "Inga"
genus_authority =
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =Hundreds, see List of Inga species

"Inga" is a genus of tropical trees and shrubs, member of the infrafamily Ingeae. "Inga"'s leaves are pinnate, and flowers are generally white. Many of the hundreds of species are used ornamentally.

Several related plants have been placed into this genus at one time, for example Yopo (Cohoba, Mopo, Nopo or Parica - "Anadenanthera peregrina" -, as "Inga niopo").

"Inga" species, most notably "Inga edulis" (commonly known as "ice-cream-bean" or, in Spanish, "guama") often have edible seeds. The name derives from the fact that those of "I. edulis" resembles vanilla ice cream in flavour.

Crop rotation techniques using species of "Inga" such as "I. edulis" have been developed to restore soil fertility, and thereby stem the tide of continual slashing and burning of the rainforest. [Haugen, C., Revelo, N. " [http://members.aol.com/tropbosq/jatun3.htm Amazon Rainforest Restoration and Conservation in Ecuador: "Inga" spp.] ". Visited 2006, September 18.] [Elkan, D. (2005, February). The Rainforest Saver. The Ecologist, 35 (1), 56-63.]

ee also

*List of Inga species

Footnotes

External links

* "I. Edulis" at FACT Net [http://v1.winrock.org/forestry/factpub/factsh/INGA.TXT plain text] [http://food-security.info/food-security.info/Winrock%20Archive/inga.htm HTML]
* [http://darwin.nap.edu/books/030904264X/html/277.html Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation]