Inga punctata

Inga punctata is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree in the Fabaceae family (subfamily Mimosoideae), widely distributed in lowland and submontane tropical forests of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Plants typically reach 5 to 15 metres in height, with a spreading rounded crown and grey to brownish bark marked with conspicuous pale lenticels (hence the epithet 'punctata'). Leaves are alternate, paripinnate, with 2 to 4 pairs of opposite elliptic to ovate leaflets 4 to 12 centimetres long; the rachis between leaflet pairs is winged and bears small saucer-shaped extrafloral nectaries between pairs, characteristic of the genus. White, fragrant flowers crowd into short cylindrical axillary spikes, each flower with a long-tubular calyx and numerous showy white filaments giving a powder-puff appearance. Fruits are oblong, cylindrical to slightly curved green pods 5 to 15 centimetres long, enclosing seeds wrapped in a sweet white edible aril (the 'ice-cream bean').