The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
In Singapore: Jering (Native to Singapore, Vulnerable)
Djenkol is a large leguminous tree of Southeast Asian forests, grown for its edible seeds and young leaves. Give it a humid, warm climate and well-drained sandy or lateritic soil with plenty of rain.
Archidendron jiringa, commonly known as djenkol, jengkol or jering, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, where the seeds are also a popular dish. They are mainly consumed in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam, prepared by frying, boiling, or roasting, and eaten raw. The beans are mildly toxic due to the presence of djenkolic acid, an amino acid that causes djenkolism (djenkol bean poisoning). The beans and leaves of the djenkol tree are traditionally used for medicinal purposes, such as purifying the blood. To date, djenkol is traded on local markets only.
The Djenkol fruit contains djenkolic acid. Eating the djenkol fruit is linked to cases of hematuria. In a study of school children aged 7-11 in Hat-Yai, Thailand who had hematuria, the children were almost four times as likely to have a history of eating djenkol beans. In the cases of eating djenkol, increasing consumption, time since last consumption, or type of preparation (even after adjustment for sex and age) did not change the risk of having hematuria. In that same study, the conclusion was derived that eating djenkol beans may be defined as one of the probable causes of hematuria.
In another report from Indonesia, djenkol consumption can cause hypersaturation of djenkolic acid crystals within the urinary system. That leads to obstructive nephropathy with sludge, stones, or possible spasms. In this report, 96 cases of djenkolism were identified. Recovery for the majority of patients included using hydration, bicarbonate therapy, and pain medication for treatment. Three patients required surgery.
The tree is indigenous to primary and secondary forests in humid, mountainous, and undulating areas as well as on river banks from sea level up to 1600 m elevation in Southeast Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia (Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan), Malaysia, Myanmar, and Southern Thailand. Djenkol trees grow best in pervious sandy or lateritic soils and they need a high rainfall guarantee.
Archidendron bubalinum · Chinese Apes Earring · Scarlet bean
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Archidendron jiringa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
