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Wild chestnut

Pachira insignis

In Singapore: Wild Chestnut, Provision Tree (Grown in Singapore)

Wild chestnut
Photo: Whaldener Endo, CC0

Pachira insignis is a large tropical tree of the mallow family, known for some of the biggest flowers of any tree, with yellow petals up to 35 cm long. It is a tropical species, so it grows well only in warm, frost-free, humid conditions.

Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let the top of the soil dry slightly between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile loam or sandy loam.
Temperature
22–32 °C; protect below 12 °C
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Trinidad to S. Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical

About

Pachira insignis is a tree belonging to the Baobab Subfamily (Bombacoideae) of the Mallow Family (Malvaceae) and native to the tropics of South America and nearby islands (e.g. Trinidad).

Its English common names include "wild chestnut" and "wild breadnut". It is best known for its very large flowers; the widest (along with the closely related Pachira aquatica) borne by any tree; up to 70 cm (28 in) diameter. Each of the five yellow petals is up to 35 cm (14 in) in length by up to 5 cm (2.0 in) wide. The stamens are united in the lower third, divided into five subgroups in the middle third and become up to one thousand discrete stamens in the upper third.

Other Pachira plants

Guiana-chestnut · French Peanut · Mallow Family

[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pachira insignis 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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