Pithecellobium dulce

Small to medium tree, the trunk spiny; leaves bipinnate, each pinna with a single pair of leaflets; stipules spinose; leaflets asymmetric, ovate-oblong, mostly a little over 2 cm long or up to 4 cm long, longer than the petiole; flowers greenish-white, fragrant, sessile in dense heads; calyx grayish-puberulent; stigma minute, capitate; pod irregularly swollen, twisted strongly, up to 12 cm long but seemingly shorter because of coiling, usually 6-8-seeded; pod with an inner sweetish white edible pulp (the funicules); seeds black” (Stone, 1970; pp. 302-303).
This thorny, deciduous tree grows up to 10 m tall, forming impenetrable thickets. It is relatively resistant to fire and resprouts rapidly by basal or aerial shoots. It is found from sea level to 300 m elevation in dryer habitats (C. W. Smith, 1985; p. 199). In Hawai‘i, “cultivated, often as a street tree, now sparingly naturalized in dry to mesic, disturbed areas, 3-50 m” (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 691) “displaces other plants in dry pastures and disturbed natural areas” (Motooka et al., 2003). In Fiji, “cultivated in fairly dry areas near sea level and also naturalized in the dry zone along roadsides, etc.” (A. C. Smith, 1985; pp. 81-82). In New Caledonia, “localement naturalisé aujourd’hui, notamment dans les régions de Dumbéa et de Boulouparis” (MacKee, 1994; p. 79).