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Canoe Tree

Cavanillesia platanifolia

Canoe Tree
Photo: Barry Stock, CC BY-SA 2.0

Cavanillesia platanifolia is a very large lowland rainforest tree of the Mallow family, reaching 45 to 60 metres, with bark marked by rings and soft wood. It is a wild forest species rarely grown as a plant, so care guidance is limited.

Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while young in its native wet tropics; it is adapted to heavy seasonal or year-round rain.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile tropical soil.
Temperature
Warm tropical conditions, roughly 20 to 32 °C; protect from frost.
How easy
Hard
Native range
Panama to Peru
Climate
wet tropical

About

Cavanillesia platanifolia, known as pijio, bongo, pretino, petrino, cuipo, hameli or hamelí in Spanish or macondo, is a flowering plant species in the family Malvaceae. It grows in lowland rainforests in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

The tree grows to 45–60 metres (148–197 feet) in height, with leaves only near the top for one month a year. Its reddish-gray bark has characteristic rings along the entire trunk. The roots are orangish-brown.

Other Cavanillesia plants

Cavanillesia arborea · Cavanillesia chicamochae · Cavanillesia hylogeiton · Cavanillesia umbellata · Cavanillesia

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cavanillesia platanifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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