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Bombacaceae Pachira insignis (Sw.) Savigny in Lam.

Bombacaceae Pachira insignis
| | © W.D. Hawthorne

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Species information

Description
Large evergreen trees tp 30m without thorns; trunk grey to green; lvs bunched at twig tips; 5-9 leaflets with 5-10mm stalks; blades obovate, rounded at tip, up to 15cm wide and 35 cm long; sometimes with brown scales below; flowers at twig ends 1 or 2 in leaf axils; stalks 7cm; ca;yx dark red, 3.5cm long; 5 petals narrowly strap-shaped, up to 35cm long; hundreds of reddish and white stamens; styl;e up to 30cm long; fruits >14cm long and 9cm diam., with 1cm thick valves and large 4 angled seeds.

Interest
Pachira - the native Guyanese name. Grown for fragrant, large white flowers and edible seeds, which can be eaten raw, ior roasted, when they taste like chestnuts. They can be ground and used as a flour substitute for baking bread. Young leaves and flowers can be cooked and eaten. The bark of the tree is used in Grenada as a bait for cocoa beetles, and to treat fevers (Politi, 1994).

Specimen information

Collector
W.D. Hawthorne, D.Jules

Specimen Number
956

Location
Top of track at Mt. Granby estate, along stream. Nutmeg growing area, with Andira, Guavas etc.

Notes
"Wild breadnut". Large leathery dark green obovate leaflets. Large stipules. Young stems green, with white lenticels. Leaves glaucous below. Fts split to reveal large seeds, 'eaten by some'. Slash stringy fibrous, pale apricot yellow turning darker, with granular bands. Large round flutes, not quite buttresses. Bark smooth and 'quilted' higher up.

Coordinates
Latitude: 12.080000 N   Longitude: 61.420000 W   Altitude: 40