Pachira aquatica Aubl.

Poponjoche

(Bombacaceae)

Espinoza, R., Masís, A., Chavarría, F., Guadamuz, A. and Perez, D. 1998. Pachira aquatica (Bombacaceae) Species Page, June 15, 1998. Species Home Pages, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. http://www.acguanacaste.ac.cr

I. Identification:

Tree up to 23 m tall (Croat 1978).

Flower:

Whitish solitary flowers more or less tubular.

Fruit:

The fruits are very charcteristic reddish-brown capsules with five valves.

Fruit

 

 

 

Leaves:

Palmately compound and alternate, entire margins. 8-20 cm long.

Upper surface and under surface of the leaf

 

 

Bark and wood:

Whole plant architecture:

Similar species:

Verification:

II.Geographic distribution:

International:

South of Mexico to Peru and Brazil (Croat 1978).

In Costa Rica:

In both the Pacific and Atlantic watersheds (Quesada et al. 1997).

In the Area de Conservación Guanacaste:

In premontane and lowland tropical wet forests.

 

 Map of macro-habitats of the ACG

III. Natural History:

It is a riparian (near river banks and the edges of swamps) species.

IV. How to find:

Along the Cucaracho river near the San Cristobal station, and at the entrance of the trail to the Estación Biológica Cacao.

Acknowledgements.

This project was carried out by the Area de Conservación Guanacaste/CR, with help from INBio/CR, ICBG from the Foggarty center, NIH/USA and NSF/USA.

Thanks to Kate Beattie for helping with the image management and the translation of this species page.

Literature cited:

Croat, T.B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Standford University Press, Standford.

Quesada, J.F., Jiménez, Q., Zamora, N., Aguilar, R., González, J. 1997. Arboles de la Península de Osa.

Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. Heredia.