Ice Cream Bean - Inga sp.

Ice Cream Bean is a unique multi-use species to add to your food forest or agroforestry project! 

A species that usually grows as wide as it does tall if unpruned, reaches around 30ft tall in FL, and can grow even taller under more tropical conditions. Large pinnate leaves and bottle brush flowers lend a tropical look to the landscape. A species of low lying areas, ice cream bean appreciates moist soils and occasional "wet feet" but isn't fussy about soil conditions otherwise. 

Ice Cream Bean is in the bean family- meaning two things:

The fruit is a large bean, with a leathery exterior and a row of seed inside which are rarely eaten as a cooked vegetable but more importantly - surrounded by a cottony/stringy sugary sweet flesh with hints of vanilla- hence the common name. Its unique flavor and appearance means its well appreciated as an interesting fruit to experience.  

Number two: being in the bean family, this species is capable of fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere and can be utilized as a "chop and drop" species in food forest or agroforestry systems- these trees can be occasionally cut back and chopped up or mulched to generate biomass and act as a long term fertilizer in these types of systems. After cutting back, trees growing close by can utilize the nitrogen released by the ice cream bean and its root associated microfauna. 

Trees for sale are 6-8 inches tall, should fruit in 3-5 years under good growing conditions. Hardy to warm spots in zone 9b but should be protected the first few years if you're going to "push" zones by either covering during cold events or planting in a 3-7 gallon containers and moved indoors til larger. Any damaged received from frost is quickly replaced with warmer weather. 

**This species is polyembryonic and if the tree you receive has multiple shoots these can be VERY carefully separated and grown as individual trees.