Sweet Tamarind Tree (tamarindus indica)

Delicious tamarind is a slow-growing, long-lived, tropical tree reaching, under favorable conditions, a height of 40 or even 70 feet with a spread of 30 feet and a trunk that can reach a circumference of 15 feet. Highly wind resistant, the strong supple branches droop gracefully at the ends are blanketed in a mass of bright green fine, feathery foliage composed of narrow 3 to 6 inch long leaves. Inconspicuous flowers are 1 inch wide with yellow petals that may have orange or red streaks. The fruit is a beanlike bulging cinnamon brown colored pod that holds within a tart sticky paste like pulp around the seed. When ripe the outer pod skin becomes brittle and easy to crack making extraction of the dried pulp much easier.