What does a Moringa tree look like?
Quite a few people have asked this question. This is a tricky question to answer. Moringa trees are not majestic or impressive, like a monekypod or a giant redwood.
They are virtual powerhouse of nutrition, but as a tree, when the “looks” were handed out by mother nature, our mighty Moringa tree got a bit the short end of the stick. They often blend in so well in the background, that that actually hard to photograph if there is lots of ‘other’ green around.
This collection of Moringa tree pictures will grow as more trees show up in front on my camera lense.
A good example of a Moringa tree growing by itself with lots of space is from a village in the high plateau of Madagascar. This tree has flowers and seedpods at the same time.
Moringa trees can grow up to 8 feet, or almost 3 meters in a year. On of the amazing aspects of Moringa trees is their resilience or their ability to almost forever regrow if they are cut down. Once a tree survived the seedling stage and took roots, there are there to stay. Moringa trees are regularly cut down so they are easier to reach for harvesting the leaves, seedpods or flowers. Most trees are cut down regularly between knee and chest height, depending on the environment and space.
This tree in Hawaii grew from a seed that must have blown over from the neighboring tree. It was not planted per se, ‘just’ by nature. Within less than three years it grew to a sizable tree as you can see from the diameter of the trunk. A health tree will grow new branches within weeks. This picture covers a six month time span from July 2016 to January 2017.
Many houses in Hawaii, especially with Filipino residents have moringa tress in their front or backyard. Usually the trees are cut down regularly and in the close -ups you can see the trunk of the ‘original’ tree. All are ‘roadside’ pictures from the island of O’ahu.
This tree must have been growing in this yard for a long time and be very old. It must have one of the biggest trunk diameters on the island.
