Tree With ‘Rare Power’ Is a Rarity Here

The phone hasn’t stopped ringing with the question “Where can I get a moringa tree?” since a story, “A Common Tree With Rare Power,” appeared in the March 27 edition of The Times. When I went to the nursery this past weekend, the sales staff asked me, “What is this moringa tree that everyone is asking us about?”

Also known by its common names of malunggay, drumstick plant, ben tree, benzolive, and horseradish tree, Moringa oleifera--to call it by its proper botanic name--is a common tree, native to northern India and found throughout the tropics. As the Page 1 story pointed out, the tree is used for everything from a coagulant to clearing muddy water to serving as a food and oil source. In developing countries, it is often planted just outside a home’s backdoor.

On the Web, there are many references to moringa and its uses, including one site, https://www. echonet.org, that offers a cookbook called “Learn to Eat Moringa” (write to ECHO, 17391 Durrance Road, North Ft. Myers, FL 33917-2239) .

To answer everyone’s questions, there are no local sources of the Moringa oleifolia (oleifolia means the leaves are olive-like) so it’s not really a landscape plant. But there is a tree growing at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Seeds have been harvested by Gene Joseph and Jane Evans of Living Stones Nursery, also in Tucson, and they offer seedlings in 3-inch pots, through the mail (each costs about $10). They are on the Web at https://www.lithops.net or write to them at 2936 N. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ 85705.

Evans told me that they grow the moringa as a bonsai subject, because it has a neat swollen base when it is young. She said the full-size tree at the University of Arizona is rather nondescript and the literature suggests it only lives for about 20 years anyway. But I guess if you need to clear muddy water. . . .