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Dipteryx oleifera is a large emergent rainforest tree from Central and northwestern South America, grown mainly as a valuable hardwood timber tree and an ornamental street tree. Its key requirements are full sun and a warm, wet tropical climate.
Dipteryx oleifera (syns. Dipteryx panamensis and Coumarouna panamensis), the tonka bean, eboe, choibá, or almendro tree (almond in Spanish), is a species of emergent rainforest tree up to 55 m (180 ft) tall in the family Fabaceae (the subfamily Papilionoideae), native to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador.
A valuable hardwood timber tree, its almond-flavored seeds are edible and sold in local markets. Its seedpods are so oily that locals use them as torches. It has "great potential" as an ornamental due to its spectacular bloom of pink flowers which lasts for weeks, and is used as a street tree in Medellín, Colombia. The flowers are followed by green fruit up to 6 cm (2.4 in) with seeds which are a critical food item for the great green macaw (Ara ambigua).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dipteryx oleifera 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.
