Hymenaea
Encyclopedia
Hymenaea L.
is a genus
in the flowering plant
family
Fabaceae
(legume family). Of fourteen living species
in the genus, all but one are native
to the tropics
of the Americas, with one additional species (Hymenaea verrucosa) on the east coast of Africa
. Some authors place the African species in a separate monotypic genus, Trachylobium
. In the neotropics, Hymenaea is distributed through the Caribbean
islands, and from southern Mexico
to Brazil
. Linnaeus named the genus in 1753 in Species Plantarum
for Hymenaios
, the Greek
god of marriage ceremonies. The name is a reference to the paired leaflets.
In Colombia
the trees are called algarrobo, and in Peru
azúcar huayo. The Brazilian name is jatobá
.
Most species of Hymenaea are large tree
s and they are primarily evergreen
. They may grow to a height of 25 m (82 ft) and emerge above the forest
canopy
. Some species will grow both as tall forest trees and as smaller shrubby trees depending on their surrounding habitat
. The leaves
are pinnately bifoliolate, meaning that they have two leaflet
s attached to the sides of the petiole
. The flower
s grow in a panicle
or corymb type of inflorescence
.
s are edible and contain starch. The fruit is sold in local markets in the Americas. The leaves may be used to make a tea
. The trees produce a dense wood
used for timber
in making ships and furniture. The thick bark of some species is used by indigenous people
of the Amazon
to make canoe
s. Seeds contain large amounts (40% of dry weight) of a highly viscous polysaccharide (xyloglucan) which can be used in several industrical sectors such as food, paper, cosmetic and pharmaceutical.
The trees also make hard resin
s that are used to manufacture varnish, especially the resin from Hymenaea courbaril (jatobá) in Brazil. The resin that is produced in Brazil is known as South America
n copal
, and Hymenaea verrucosa is the source of the valuable Zanzibar
copal. Resin may be collected from living trees, or from the soil near the place where a tree once stood. Throughout its American range, indigenous peoples use the resin for incense
and as a cement. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera
is the source of Dominican amber
and probably of most amber found in the tropics.
In the neotropical region, Hymenaea courbaril has been used as a model organism
to study the effect of concentration on the rate of photosynthesis
. When the concentration of is increased from some unspecified level to 720 ppm
, the rate of photosynthesis increases by about 60%, and the rate of cellulose production increases by about 30%. The concentration of in the atmosphere will reach 720 ppm in the year 2100 if it continues to increase from some unspecified time to 2100 at the same rate that it was increasing at that unspecified time.
Seedling
establishment is promoted by xyloglucan
mobilization during development in Hymenaea courbaril. Seeds germinate after about 18 days and start xyloglucan mobilization after 45 days. This takes place for about 20 days, when photosynthesis is established and the seedling becomes independent.
One of the signs that storage mobilization is occurring is that young leaves become red due to the presence of anthocyanins.
Seedlings from the rain forest invest 70% of their carbon in the aerial parts whereas the one from savannah invests more carbon (ca.70%) on root development.
Hymenaea is a very important species in programmes of recuperation of degraded Rain Forests in the Neotropics. Regarding ecological succession
, Hymenaea courbaril appears late in the process being classified as a 'late successional' or climax species.
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
in the flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Fabaceae
Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
(legume family). Of fourteen living species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the genus, all but one are native
Indigenous (ecology)
In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...
to the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
of the Americas, with one additional species (Hymenaea verrucosa) on the east coast of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Some authors place the African species in a separate monotypic genus, Trachylobium
Trachylobium
Trachylobium is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the paraphyletic subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It contains a single species, Trachylobium verrucosum, a large tree from tropical East Africa. It is cultivated in many tropical parts of the world. Many authors...
. In the neotropics, Hymenaea is distributed through the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
islands, and from southern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Linnaeus named the genus in 1753 in Species Plantarum
Species Plantarum
Species Plantarum was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work by Carl Linnaeus. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today. This means that the first names to be considered validly published in botany are those that appear...
for Hymenaios
Hymenaios
In Greek mythology, Hymen was a god of marriage ceremonies, inspiring feasts and song. Related to the god's name, a hymenaios is a genre of Greek lyric poetry sung during the procession of the bride to the groom's house in which the god is addressed, in contrast to the Epithalamium, which was sung...
, the Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
god of marriage ceremonies. The name is a reference to the paired leaflets.
In Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
the trees are called algarrobo, and in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
azúcar huayo. The Brazilian name is jatobá
Jatobá
Hymenaea courbaril is a tree common to the Caribbean, Central, and South America. It is a hardwood that is used for furniture, flooring and decorative purposes....
.
Most species of Hymenaea are large tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s and they are primarily evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
. They may grow to a height of 25 m (82 ft) and emerge above the forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
canopy
Canopy (forest)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
. Some species will grow both as tall forest trees and as smaller shrubby trees depending on their surrounding habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are pinnately bifoliolate, meaning that they have two leaflet
Leaflet
A leaflet in botany is a part of a compound leaf. A leaflet may resemble an entire leaf, but it is not borne on a stem as a leaf is, but rather on a vein of the whole leaf. Compound leaves are common in many plant families...
s attached to the sides of the petiole
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s grow in a panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
or corymb type of inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
.
Uses and properties
The pulpy center of the fruitFruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s are edible and contain starch. The fruit is sold in local markets in the Americas. The leaves may be used to make a tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
. The trees produce a dense wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
used for timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
in making ships and furniture. The thick bark of some species is used by indigenous people
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
of the Amazon
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
to make canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s. Seeds contain large amounts (40% of dry weight) of a highly viscous polysaccharide (xyloglucan) which can be used in several industrical sectors such as food, paper, cosmetic and pharmaceutical.
The trees also make hard resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
s that are used to manufacture varnish, especially the resin from Hymenaea courbaril (jatobá) in Brazil. The resin that is produced in Brazil is known as South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n copal
Copal
Copal is a name given to tree resin that is particularly identified with the aromatic resins used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and other purposes...
, and Hymenaea verrucosa is the source of the valuable Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
copal. Resin may be collected from living trees, or from the soil near the place where a tree once stood. Throughout its American range, indigenous peoples use the resin for incense
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
and as a cement. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera
Hymenaea protera
Hymenaea protera is an extinct prehistoric leguminous tree, the probable ancestor of present-day Hymenaea species. Most neotropical ambers come from its fossilized resin, including the famous Dominican amber.H...
is the source of Dominican amber
Dominican amber
Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics....
and probably of most amber found in the tropics.
In the neotropical region, Hymenaea courbaril has been used as a model organism
Model organism
A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are in vivo models and are widely used to...
to study the effect of concentration on the rate of photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
. When the concentration of is increased from some unspecified level to 720 ppm
PPM
- Culture :*Peter, Paul and Mary, a 1960s folk music trio*Picture Postcard Monthly, a magazine for collectors of postcards*Please Please Me, the first album by The Beatles- Health :*Permanent pacemaker or artificial pacemaker...
, the rate of photosynthesis increases by about 60%, and the rate of cellulose production increases by about 30%. The concentration of in the atmosphere will reach 720 ppm in the year 2100 if it continues to increase from some unspecified time to 2100 at the same rate that it was increasing at that unspecified time.
Seedling
Seedling
thumb|Monocot and dicot seedlingsA seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle , the hypocotyl , and the cotyledons...
establishment is promoted by xyloglucan
Xyloglucan
Xyloglucan is a hemicellulose that occurs in the primary cell wall of all vascular plants, however essential enzymes for xyloglucan metabolism, like XTH and β1→4-Glucan Synthase are found in Charophyceae algae. In many dicotyledonous plants, it is the most abundant hemicellulose in the primary cell...
mobilization during development in Hymenaea courbaril. Seeds germinate after about 18 days and start xyloglucan mobilization after 45 days. This takes place for about 20 days, when photosynthesis is established and the seedling becomes independent.
One of the signs that storage mobilization is occurring is that young leaves become red due to the presence of anthocyanins.
Seedlings from the rain forest invest 70% of their carbon in the aerial parts whereas the one from savannah invests more carbon (ca.70%) on root development.
Hymenaea is a very important species in programmes of recuperation of degraded Rain Forests in the Neotropics. Regarding ecological succession
Ecological succession
Ecological succession, is the phenomenon or process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed. It is a fundamental concept in ecology, and refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community...
, Hymenaea courbaril appears late in the process being classified as a 'late successional' or climax species.
See also
- Dominican amberDominican amberDominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic. Resin from the extinct species Hymenaea protera is the source of Dominican amber and probably of most amber found in the tropics....
- AniméAnimé (oleo-resin)For other uses, see: Anime.Animé or Zanzibar copal is an oleo-resin which is discharged from the Jatobá tree and other species of Hymenaea growing in tropical South America....
, an oleo-resin from Hymenaea species. - JatobáJatobáHymenaea courbaril is a tree common to the Caribbean, Central, and South America. It is a hardwood that is used for furniture, flooring and decorative purposes....
, the economically important Brazilian tree H. courbaril.