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Indian Almond Tree
Also known as the Sea Almond or Tropical Almond, this Almond tree is among one of the most common trees throughout India, Malaysia and many other parts of SE Asia, growing wild as well as cultivated for its striking features as well as its tasty nut.
This tree has a characteristic pagoda shape because it sends out a single stem from the top centre. When the single stem reaches a good height, it sends out several horizontal branches. It can get very large reaching 30m in ideal conditions.
A decidious tree it can shed its leaves twice a year. In Autumn the leaves turn into colours of red, copper, gold. The tree first drops its leaves when it reaches 3-4 years old. The grey fissured, flaky but not ridged.
The fruits are almond-shaped and green turning brown to purple when ripe. The fibrous shell surrounds an edible nut. This shell helps the fruit to float as the seed is dispersed by water.
The nuts are edible, taste very much like almonds although it can be a challenge to remove the flesh from the hard stone. Unlike the commercial almond, the Sea Almond can be eaten raw. Oil extracted from the dried nuts is edible and used in cooking (South America).
175mm pot | $22.75 AU | Seeking Propagation Material | 
| Height | Frost tol. | Pollination req'd | Evergreen/Deciduous | Harvest period |
| 8-20 | Low | No | December - February |
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Terminalia catappa is known as "Baadam chettu" in Telugu. I would appreciate if you added it to the list of common names in other languages. | Narasimham Ayalasomayajula - Sacramento, CA 07-Jan-2007
The leaves of this tree are used to serve food, providing bio-degradable dinner plates! | Lakshmi Modali - Hampton, VA 13-Mar-2007
Called Almendro (the tree) or Almendra (the fruit) in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. | Sylvia Cardona - Cumming, GA 13-May-2007
Used to treat water in fish tanks, containing betta's reduces stress levels in fish and lowers ph of water. also eliminates harmfull chemicals in the water. | Random_ Chaos - Durban, R.S.A 26-May-2007
This can be used as hair oil | Jamal - Puttalam, SRILA 20-Jun-2007
In Nehan Language Nissan Island Bougainville PNG It is called "Talisa" | Daniel - Nissan Island, PNG 30-Jun-2007
We discovered this beautiful tree whilst staying in Fiji where it is referred to as the Tivi tree | Shannon - Perth, WA 03-Aug-2007
In tropical australia, they are a favourite tree for black cocatoos. If you love your wildlife, this is a magnificent tree to grow | Rhaya Jordan - Townsville, QLD 26-Sep-2007
Indian almond is commonly known in GA[a language in Ghana] as 'brofo nkatie' | Barnabas Yaw Klu - Accra, GHANA 16-Dec-2007
In Tanzania is commonly known as Kungu (Swahili Language). You can chew the fruits, because are palatable | Mswahilina Mswahilina - Dar Es Salaam, BONGO 19-Mar-2009
Terminalia catappa is known as badam in kerala. the dried leaves contain a chemical substance. These leaves when put into water release anti-bacterial substances into the water it reduces ph level. | Rafi - Calicut, KERAL 02-Jul-2009
Known as Talisay in Philippines; the bark and leaves are used as antipyretic; the extract can be extracted by decoction of by Soxhlet method | Jenny Castro - Iloilo City, PHIL 20-Jul-2009
Know as a Bunda Pin in Burmese. The seed is useful for cooking purpose. When is crushed, the oil is used wit coconut oil for hair rejuvenation in Burma. Yes, we also use it for Lowing the PH for fish tanking without harmful chemicals. | Shannyboo - Perth, WA 06-Oct-2009
Afghan Almond | Faizan Azami - Kabul Afghanistan, KABUL 08-Nov-2009
India Almonds is very common in Nigeria and the fruitis very tasty. We usually eat the outside fruit when is yellow ripe. We call the tree frut in Nigeria. | Rotimi Durojaiye - New York, NY 26-Jan-2010
Used as a water conditioner for fishes like discus, tetras, arowanas, bettas, etc. | Alan Chow - Singapore, SG 13-Feb-2010
Indian Almond is a Multipurpose usable Tree | Rakesh Swarnkar - Indore, M P 22-Oct-2010
Known as 'fruit' in south-west Nigeria. | Annon - Lagos, LAGOS 07-Nov-2010
In ghana it is also called "abrofo nkatee" meaning white-man's groundnut which is very good in the treatment of malaria and typhoid-fever(the dried and fresh leaves) | Boateng Emmanuel - Kumasi-asafo, GHANA 12-Jun-2011
In UAE and many Arabian Gulf countries it is called "Laoze" tree. The fruit is very tasty and eaten raw. The inside nut just taste like sweet almon but hard to get because of hard shell. The tree is very popular in the gulf and southern part of I ran. | A. Razak Yousef - Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE 26-Aug-2011
In the Maldives, Indian Almond or sea almond nut is called : Kana madhu. The tree and timber is : Midhili. One of the most common trees throughout the island nation. I have no information of its medicinal uses, sorry. | Ahmed Sameer Ali - Male'- Maldives, MALE' 23-Nov-2011
Mangrove and Wetland Wildlife at Sungei Buloh Nature Park
Updated: 17th of January, 2008 at 9:21am © Disclaimer/Privacy/Copyright