Description: A medium-sized tree with a straight trunk, cylindrical or somewhat irregular. Leaves are alternate, compound, with 6-10 leaflets per leaf, and no terminal leaflet (so paripinnate). The outer pair of leaflets is large, while the pairs at the base are very small. The veins are prominent, so the leaves look rugose or wrinkled. Young leaves, petioles, and branchlets have a dense coat of hairs. The central leaf stalk (called the rachis) is prominently winged between the leaflets. On the rachis, between each pair of leaflets, there is a small, circular gland, and at the outer pair of leaflets, there are two additional glands beside the central one. The glands secrete nectar which ants feed on.

Reproduction: Flowers are white and appear to consist of nothing but a ball of long, white stamen (like a pom-pom); they are conspicuous from November to January. The fruits are long, flat, reddish-brown pods, twisted, covered in dense hairs. They mature in February and March.

Distribution: Widespread in forests along the Canal from Pacific to Caribbean, but never common. Can be seen along roads in these areas, and probably more common along roads than in the forest. Not in wet or high elevation sites.

Similar Species: Learn the genus Inga from the paripinnate leaves that have circular glands along the midrib. I. goldmanii is the only species with three glands at the base of one of the leaflet pairs. LK ingam1 Inga mucuna LK2 is another hairy Inga, and LK ingama I. marginata LK2 also has prominent wings on the leaf rachis, but neither has glands in a threesome. I. goldmanii has larger flowers than other Inga, and they can be spotted along roads with some practice.

Uses: Most Inga fruits have sweet pulp in the seed pods which is edible.

Descripción: Árbol de 10 a 25 m de alto. Corteza exterior de color marrón castaño. Ramitas terminales cuadrangulares y con pelos ferruginosos. Hojas paripinnadas y alternas, con 3-5 pares de folíolos, opuestos en el raquis, los basales reducidos en tamaño. Folíolos de 5-25 x 3-14 cm, ovados o elípticos, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros y base redondeada o ligeramente desigual. Los folíolos tienen nervaduras buladas y se encuentran cubiertos de pelos ferruginosos por el envés. Estípulas foliares y persistentes. Pecíolo alado y de 1-5 cm de largo. Raquis alado. Glándulas interfoliolares sésiles o estipitadas. Los folíolos terminales presentan una glándula en la parte basal de la nervadura central. Inflorescencias en espigas. Flores blancas. Frutos en legumbres aplanadas y ligeramente torcidas, de 20-32 cm de largo, con pelos hirsutos de color marrón castaño sobre la superficie exterior. Semillas cubiertas de un arilo blanco.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en bosques húmedos o muy húmedos. En Panamá se encuentra en las provincias de Bocas del Toro, Colón, Los Santos, Panamá y Veraguas. Común en bosques secundarios del Canal de Panamá. Florece y fructifica de noviembre a marzo. Las flores son visitadas por abejas y otros insectos.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK ingam1 Inga mucuna LK2 , pero en I. mucuna los folíolos terminales no presentan una glándula en la parte basal de la nervadura central como ocurre en I. goldmanii. LK ingach Inga chocoensis LK2 tiene hojas y glándulas muy parecidas, pero I. chocoensis sólo tiene dos pares de folíolos.

Usos: La madera es empleada para leña. El arilo blanco que cubre las semillas cuando los frutos están maduros es comestible. La especie puede usarse en sistemas agroforestales porque ofrece sombra y mejora las condiciones del suelo.

Tree, to 20 m tall, densely ferruginous-hirsute all over to sparsely so or glabrate on leaflet surface and sericeous on corolla. Rachis conspicuously winged; interfoliar glands stalked, to +/- 3 mm tall; leaflets in 3-5 pairs, ovate to elliptic, acute to caudate-acuminate, rounded to slightly cordate and asymmetrical at base, sometimes +/- bullate between veins, the terminal pair 11-24 cm long, 6-13 cm wide, usually with a gland on midrib above within 2 cm of base (sometimes obscured by pubescence); juvenile leaves less densely pubescent and to 80 cm long with the terminal leaflets to 42 cm long and 19 cm wide. Spikes axillary, usually solitary; peduncles 3-9 cm long, stout; rachis 10-20 cm long; bracts to 6 mm long; flowers sessile; calyx campanulate, 12-20 mm long, the lobes acute, 3-7 mm long; corolla campanulate, sericeous, 20-28 mm long, more than 8 mm wide; stamens and style to ca 50 mm; style sometimes persistent on growing legume. Legumes flat or twisted, 10-25 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, to 1.5 cm thick, densely ferruginous-hirsute; valves splitting open (usually from bottom) at maturity to expose seeds; seeds oblong, to 1.8 cm long, not colorful. Croat 8300, 13107. Occasional, in the forest. Flowers mostly from November to February. The fruits probably mature in the rainy season. Similar to I. mucuna, but distinguished by the short corolla, more reddish-brown fruits, and the gland on the midrib of the leaflet above.

Bocas Species Database

Characteristics: Tree