Skip to main content

Petai (Parkia speciosa)

Dlium Petai (Parkia speciosa)

Stink bean or bitter bean or pete or petai (Parkia speciosa) is a tropical tree species in Fabaceae, 5-25 m high and branched, reddish brown bark, always green, compound and pinnate leaves, young seeds are harvested as fresh or boiled food.

P. speciosa has a hump-shaped flower that hangs with a long stalk, usually appearing near the tips of the branches. Young flowers and not yet blooming are green, mature flowers have stamens and pistils, old flowers turn yellow and large in size.







Dozens of long, flat pod-shaped fruits emerge from a flower hump. Each pod has up to 10-20 seeds, green when young and wrapped in a rather thick membrane of light brown. The fruit dries and becomes harder as it ripens and releases the seeds.

This tree has at least two varieties. Petai Gajah has 15-18 seeds, while Petai Kacang has 10-12 seeds. Usually sold with pods included. Seeds have a distinctive and pungent odor, are consumed fresh or as a mixture of a number of dishes.

Bean is eaten raw with sambal as part of fresh vegetables, fried or roasted. Traditional medicine uses seeds to treat anemia, stress, premenstrual syndrome, depression, abdominal pain, intestinal worms and other.

This species grows at an elevation of 0-1500 meters, rainfall 1000-2000 mm/year, latosol to clay soil, pH 5.5-7, full sunlight and a wet climate.

The plants contain flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, terpenoids (β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, lupeol, campesterol, squalene), cyclic polysulfides, thiazolidine-4- carboxylate, saponins, hexathionine, tetrathiane, trithiolane, penthathiopane, pentathiocane, tetrathiepane, djenkolic acid.

Often used to treat liver and kidneys, worms, stress, stomach ulcers, large warts, anemia, constipation, stop smoking, reduce high blood pressure and stroke, prevent morning sickness in pregnant women, has antioxidant and antidiabetic activity.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Mimosoideae
Genus: Parkia R.Br. in Narr. Travels Africa, App. XXII: 234 (1826)
Species: Parkia speciosa Hassk. in Flora 25(2, Beibl. 1): 55 (1842)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Acacia gigantea Noronha in Verh. Batav. Genootsch. Kunsten 5(4): 5 (1790)
Acacia graveolens Jack in Malayan Misc. 2(7): 78 (1822)
Inga pyriformis Jungh. ex Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind. 1(1): 52 (1855)
Mimosa pedunculata W.Hunter in J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 53: 121 (1909)
Parkia calcarata Gagnep. in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 2: 56 (1911)
Parkia graveolens Prain in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 66: 241 (1897)
Parkia harbesonii Elmer in Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 5: 1804 (1913)
Parkia macrocarpa Miq. in Fl. Ned. Ind., Eerste Bijv.: 284 (1861)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

Lock, J.M. & Ford, C.S. (2004). Legumes of Malesia a Check-List: 1-295. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Lock, J.M. & Heald, J. (1994). Legumes of Indo-China a check-list: 1-164. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

VERNACULAR NAME

Ambon: Pateh, Pateka
Bima: Pode
Buru: Foopatu
English: Petai, Bitter bean, Stink bean, Twisted cluster bean, Sator bean
Philippines: U'pang
Indonesian: Petai, Pete
Javanese: Pete, Sindutan
Karo: Parira
Lampung: Petar
Malaysia: Petai, nyiring, patag
Minangkabau: Patai
Polish: Parkia wspaniała
Russian: Паркия красивая
Sawu: Pote
Seram: Paloh
Slovak: Parkia nádherná
Sumba: Puti
Sunda: Peuteuy (Sunda)
Thai: สะตอ
Toba: Palia, Pelia

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
Web: https://www.dlium.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Sea almond (Terminalia catappa)

Ketapang or tropical almond or beach almond or talisay tree or umbrella tree or sea almond ( Terminalia catappa ) is a species of plant in the Combretaceae, a shady tree, fast growing, forming a multilevel canopy, often used as a shade tree in gardens and on roadsides. T. catappa grows large, up to 40 meters in height and up to 1.5 meters in trunk, shady canopy with branches that grow flat and terraced, young trees often look like pagodas while old and large trees often have aerial roots up to 3 meters. The leaves are scattered, mostly at the end of the twig, rounded egg upside down, 8-38 cm long, 5-19 cm wide, the tip is wide, the base is narrow, the upper surface is smooth, green but turns red if to fall out and short stalks. The flowers are small, collected near the tips of the twigs, 8-25 cm long and green-yellow in color. The flowers are not crowned, the petals have five taju, are plate or bell shaped, 4-8 mm long and are white or cream in color. Stamens in two circles and arra...
Read more

Asian foxtail (Uraria crinita)

Asian foxtail or cat's tail bean ( Uraria crinita ) is a species of plant in Fabaceae, a perennial, upright shrub with woody stems at least at the base, up to 2 meters high in forests, agricultural land, waterways, used as a medicinal herb, green manure and sometimes planted in the garden as an ornamental plant. U. crinita has elongated leaves, rounded base, pointed tip, a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, rough surface, dark green with white spots. Petiole short or less than 0.5 cm and brownish red. Compound flower in spike shape, purple and white triangular crown. Long flower stalk, erect, 15-20 cm long and only at the end of the flower. The crown slowly falls off and leaves behind a stalk that is shaped like coir or light yellow pads. Asian foxtail grows in dry grasslands, open forests, trash cans, roadsides, sandy areas and sometimes in deciduous forests, elevations of 0-1500 meters and does not grow in waterlogged places. The different parts are often used in t...
Read more

Kunu buti (Mesosphaerum suaveolens)

Kunu buti ( Mesosphaerum suaveolens ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect, herbaceous annual, growing up to 1.5 meters tall. Its cylindrical, rough, brown or green stem is hairy and white. It grows on forest floors, bushes, agricultural fields, and roadsides. Its roots are fibrous and brownish-yellow. M. suaveolens has single, opposite leaves, stalks 2-5 cm long and hairy. The leaf blades are green, hairy, oval, with pointed tips, blunt bases, serrated edges, up to 6 cm long, up to 5 cm wide, and pinnate veins. The flowers are compound, axillary, in clusters, perfect, and bisexual. The petals are attached, forming a tube, each tip elongated like a spine, soft, 3-10 mm long, and green. The corolla is attached, asymmetrically detached, 1-2 cm long, and purple. The fruit is single, hard, capsule-shaped, hairy on the surface, and green or brown in color. The seeds are round, small and blackish brown in color. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphyl...
Read more