Inga

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This article is about the genus of plant. For other uses, see Inga (disambiguation).

Inga

Ice-cream-bean (Inga edulis) parts drawing

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Subclass:	Rosidae
(unranked):	Eurosids I
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Mimosoideae
Tribe:	Ingeae
Genus:	Inga

Species

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.^[1]^[2]

Fruit of an Inga-species

Footnotes

^ Haugen, C., Revelo, N. "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.