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Lonchocarpus violaceus
Descourtilz, J. Theodore.; Descourtilz, M. E.; Pichard., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Legumes: pea and bean family

Lonchocarpus violaceus

LC Least Concern

Names

English—
Dutch—
SpanishBalché
Chinese—
Scientific nameLonchocarpus violaceus (Jacq.) Kunth ex DC.

About this species

Lonchocarpus violaceus is a species of evergreen tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Caribbean and northern South America. It has been introduced to Florida. Its names include lilac tree, greenheart, Spanish ash, and lancepod.

According to some sources L. violaceus was used by the Maya peoples to produce the alcoholic beverage, balché. It is likely they are actually referring to L. longistylus which was once synonymized with L. violaceus.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomPlantae
PhylumTracheophyta
ClassMagnoliopsida
OrderFabales
FamilyFabaceae
GenusLonchocarpus

Related species in Suriname