Enterolobium Cyclocarpum (Jacq.) Griseb
Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Jacq.) Griseb. ANÍBAL NIEMBRO ROCAS Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Xalapa, Veracruz, México E FABACEAE (BEAN FAMILY) No synonyms Algarrobo de orejas, árbol de las orejas, caro, costa-mahogany, dormilón, earpod tree, flamboyán extranjero, guancaste, guanacastle, jenízaro, juana, nacaste, nacastle, oreja, oreja de mono orejón, parota, pich, picho Native to the tropical regions of America, Enterolobium cyclo- gum that exudes from the trunk has properties similar to those carpum is naturally distributed from central Mexico, across of gum arabic (Francis 1988, National Academy of Sciences Central America, to the northern part of South America. The 1979, Niembro 1986). species has been introduced and naturalized in the Caribbean The flowers are white and arranged in capitula. The tree islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti (Little and others 1988, blooms February through April. The fruits take 3 months to Standley and Steyermark 1946a). ripen. Ripe fruits can be recognized by the color change in the Enterolobium cyclocarpum is a deciduous and thornless pericarp from green to dark brown and by the noise the seeds tree that can reach 30 m in height and 3.5 m d.b.h. The trunk make when the fruits are shaken. The legumes are curved or is short and straight with small spurs at the base. The bark twisted, laterally flattened, dark brown, shiny, indehiscent, lig- has numerous lenticels. The thick, rising branches produce neous, and sometimes form a circle 7 to 12 cm in diameter. an ample, spreading, and hemispherical crown. The leaves Each fruit contains 8 to 16 seeds (Holdridge and Poveda 1975, are bipinnate and 15 to 40 cm long, with linear-oblong Little and others 1988, Pennington and Sarukhan 1968, Stan- leaflets 8 to 15 mm long.
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