Sesbania which is also known as Grandiflora, Hummingbird Tree is a small, open-branched, perennial tree native to south Asia and Southeast Asia with possibly Indonesia and is found growing under full exposure to sunshine and is extremely frost sensitive and grow well in wide range of soils including saline, alkaline soils and acidic soils. It is nutrients dense vegetable that is acrid, bitter, and astringent in taste and is used in number of food items since ancient times.
| Name | Sesbania |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Sesbania grandiflora |
| Native | South Asia and Southeast Asia with possibly Indonesia |
| Common/English Name | Agathi, Agati Sesbania, August Flower, Australian Corkwood Tree, Corkwood Tree, Flamingo Bill, Grandiflora, Hummingbird Tree, Scarlet Wisteria Tree, Sesban, Sesbania, Swamp Pea, Tiger Tongue, Vegetable-Hummingbird, West Indian Pea, West Indian Pea Tree, White Dragon Tree |
| Name in Other Languages | Persian : Sīsabān Arabic : Saysabān Vietnamese : So Ðũa Burmese : Pauk-Pan German : Kolibribaum Chamorro : Caturay Sri Lanka : Katurumurunga Kolle Khmer : Ângkiëdèi Creole Patois : Pwa Valet Palauan : Katurai Dutch : Agati Caribbean : Colibri Vegetal Hawaiian : Ohai Ke‘Oke‘O India : Bak Phool ( Assamese ) Spanish : Baculo Indonesia : Bunga Turi Portuguese : Agasto Chinese : Ta-Hua Japanese : Agachi Slovakian : Sezbánia Veľkokvetá Korean : A Ga Ti Czech : Sesbánie Velkokvětá Nepali : Agasti Tahitian : Afai French : Agati A Grandes Fleurs Russian : Sesbania Krupnotsvetkovaia Malaysia : Turi Samoan : Sepania Philippines : Diana ( Bagobo ) Thailand : Khae Daeng ( Chiang Mai ) Laotian : Kh’ê: Kha:W Tibetan : A Ga Sta |
| Plant Growth Habit | Small, open-branched, unarmed, perennial tree |
| Growing Climate | Thrives under full exposure to sunshine and is extremely frost sensitive. |
| Soil | Wide range of soils including those that are poor and waterlogged. It tolerates saline and alkaline soils and has some tolerance to acidic soils |
| Plant Size | 15m tall and 25-30 cm in diameter; |
| Root | Heavily nodulated with large nodules. |
| Trunk | 30 cm |
| Branches | Drooping branches |
| Bark | Light gray, corky and deeply furrowed and the wood are soft and white. |
| Leaf | Glaucous, deep green, pinnately compound to 30 cm long with 20–40 pairs of opposite to alternate leaflets |
| Leaflets | Oblong, to elliptical, obtuse apex, about 2–3 cm long. |
| Flower Shape & Size | Quite large, 7–9 cm long, corolla with standard and wings, staminal tube and glabrous ovary and style |
| Flower Color | White or deep pink to red |
| Flower Taste | Acrid, bitter, and astringent |
| Pods | Pendent, slender, long (20-60 cm) and thin (6-9 mm) with broad sutures, cylindric, green, indehiscent containing 15–50 seeds. |
| Seed | Beanlike, elliptical, red brown, 6-8 in a pod, 3.5 mm, each weighting 1 g. |
| Major Nutrition | Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) 14.6 mg (16.22%) Vitamin B9 (Folate) 20 µg (5.00%) Iron, Fe 0.17 mg (2.13%) Selenium, Se 0.2 mg (1.82%) Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) 0.017 mg (1.42%) Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 0.016 mg (1.23%) Carbohydrate 1.35 g (1.04%) Tryptophan 0.004 g (0.91%) Phosphorus, P 6 mg (0.86%) Isoleucine 0.014 g (0.84%) |
| Health Benefits |
|
| Calories in 1cup (100gm) | 5 Kcal |