Ice-cream-bean

Also known as Guaba, Paterna, Padoo, Whitey

Ice-cream-bean trees dominate secondary tropical canopies with broad, spreading crowns supported by winged leaf stems and dense clusters of brush-like white blossoms. Nodules along the root system host symbiotic rhizobial bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen, rapidly enriching depleted rainforest soils. In native Amazonian ecosystems, arboreal mammals and large frugivorous birds break open the thick cylindrical pods, dispersing intact seeds across the understory floor.