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Schizolobium
Brazilian firetree (Schizolobium parahyba) is the sole species in its genus, a very fast-growing tropical tree from South America that can exceed 30 m. It is grown mainly for its rapid growth and soft timber, and is not a common houseplant.
Schizolobium parahyba, the Brazilian firetree, or Brazilian fern tree, is a species of tree from tropical America. It is the sole species in genus Schizolobium. It is notable for its fast growth (up to 3 meters per year). Under optimal conditions it may reach 30 meters high in only five years, which would make it one of the fastest growing trees ever (an average growth of 6 meters per year).
The tree is locally known by many names, including guapuruvu, guapiruvu, bacurubu, ficheira ("token tree"), faveira ("fava tree"), pau-de-vintém ("penny-wood"), pau-de-tamanco ("clog-wood"), umbela, and parica. It was first described by J. M. C. Vellozo in 1825 under the name Cassia parahyba. The species name likely refers to the Paraíba River in Southeast Brazil.
The wood is odorless, straw-colored, soft and light (density 0.32 to 0.39 g/cm3, increasing with age). Formerly used for dugout canoes, it is now used for toys, boxes, shoe heels, the inner layers of laminated wood, and paper. It is easily cultivated, yielding 600 m3 of wood per hectare after 10 years.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Schizolobium 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.
