Monkey Pod Tree

Also known as Rain Tree, Saman, Cow Tamarind, Zaman

Monkey pod trees form colossal, umbrella-shaped crowns that can span over 50 meters wide, casting immense circles of cooling shade across tropical savannas and parks. Their bipinnate leaves exhibit dramatic nyctinastic movements, folding tight together at nightfall and during overcast spells to let rain filter directly down to the grass beneath. In bloom, the branches erupt into thousands of delicate, brush-like pink and white flower clusters that draw swarms of foraging honeybees.