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Family: Euphorbiaceae
Sandboxtree, more...ceibo, sand-box tree (es: sandbox, Tronador)
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Description: One of the giant trees of the area, with a straight, cylindrical trunk that can reach 2 m in diameter. The largest in the Barro Colorado plot is 2.4 m. The trunk has straight, sharp, cylindrical spines, 1-2 cm in length, and the bark is light colored, sometimes yellowish, unfissured. In very large trees, the spines can be largely absent, or only in a few small patches. Leaves are heart-shaped, with prominent, straight, parallel secondary veins. Reproduction: Large Hura are deciduous toward the end of the dry season, but irregularly, so that at any one time some individuals have old leaves, some have new leaves, and some are leafless or nearly so. Flowers are produced through the wet season, are red, and come in two forms on the same tree, the male flowers like little cones, and the female flat and open. Fruits are cube-shaped capsules about 2 cm wide, which pop open to send the seeds a few meters (this is called ballistic dispersal). Distribution: Widespread along the Canal, from Pacific to Caribbean, but never common. It occurs in towns, along roads, as well as in secondary and old-growth forest. Juveniles are never common, and only appear along roads or in large clearings in the forest. On BCI, density is low, but there are a number of immense trees. There are trees in Panama City, Paraiso, and a few places along the Panama-Gamboa Rd. Similar Species: The heart-shaped leaves are distinctive, although the genus LK crotbi Croton LK2 has leaves of the same form. Note the very prominent secondary veins in Hura. In most Hura, the trunk spines are conspicuous and distinctive - spines in other medium-sized and large trees (the LK zantbe Zanthoxylum LK2 and LK sponmo Spondia mombin) LK2 are not cylindrical. See also LK xyl2ch Xylosma spp., LK2 LK randar Randia spp., LK2 and LK guetfo Guettarda foliacea, LK2 which have variously-shaped trunk spines and are smaller trees. Giant Hura are sometimes missed because the trunk spines are sparse, but look carefully, there usually are some. Uses: The wood is widely harvested and sold commercially in Panama, due mostly to the very large size of the trees. It is not high-quality, and is used for basic construction or plywood. The bark has toxic sap, and it is said that loggers injure their eyes when cutting these trees. At one time, the bark was used locally as fish poison, and the fruit capsules as ink wells. Descripción: Árbol de 20 a 40 m de alto. Copa redondeada. Tronco con espinas cónicas. Corteza exterior gris y con lenticelas negras. El desprendimiento de cualquier parte de la planta produce el flujo de una savia acuosa, la cual se torna lechosa o cremosa al oxidarse. La savia de estos árboles es sumamente tóxica e irritante. Hojas simples y alternas, de 5-15 x 4-12 cm, ovadas o acorazonadas, con ápice acuminado, bordes dentados o crenados y base cordada. Las plantas juveniles tienen hojas de mayor tamaño en comparación con los adultos. Estípulas triangulares y deciduas. Pecíolo de 10-20 cm de largo y con dos glándulas en el extremo apical. La especie es monoica. Flores estaminadas en espigas cónicas de color rojo. Flores pistiladas en una columna estilar roja o rojo vino, con un disco carnoso y lobulado en el extremo apical. Frutos en cápsulas, de 5-10 cm de diámetro, verdes, tornándose marrón y con dehiscencia explosiva al madurar. Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas elevaciones, en bosques secos o húmedos. En Panamá se encuentra en las provincias de Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Coclé, Colón, Darién, Herrera, Los Santos, Panamá y Veraguas. En lugares muy secos el tronador ocurre asociado a bosques ribereños a lo largo del curso de los ríos y los riachuelos. Deja caer parcialmente sus hojas durante la estación seca, pero las repone a inicios de la estación lluviosa. Florece y fructifica durante todo el año, principalmente de agosto a marzo. Cuando los frutos maduran explotan para dispersar las semillas y ocasionan una fuerte detonación, de allí su nombre común ‘tronador’. Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con plantas del género Croton (Euphorbiaceae), pero Croton presenta savia roja o rojiza. También se puede confundir con LK hippma Hippomane mancinella LK2 , pero H. mancinella crece en áreas costeras y de manglares. Usos: La madera es empleada en la fabricación de botes. La savia de estos árboles es muy tóxica, temida por los cortadores de madera, los cuales dejan ‘sangrar’ el árbol antes de cortarlo. En el pasado la savia y las hojas trituradas se utilizaron como barbasco en la captura de peces. Las semillas y la savia se emplearon en el tratamiento de la elefantiasis, la lepra, fiebres reumáticas y lombrices intestinales. Con los restos de los frutos se fabrican artesanías. L., Sp. Pl. 1008. 1753 Large monoecious tree, to 25 m tall; trunk to 1(2) m dbh, bearing hard conical spines; branches glabrous; second-year growth with a thin, smooth, brown periderm. Leaves alternate, simple, deciduous; petioles to 20 cm long, with 2 glands at apex; blades ovate, abruptly acuminate, cordate at base, 11-25 cm long, 7-15 cm wide, glabrous above, sparsely long-pubescent to glabrous below, crenate, the teeth often gland-tipped. Receptacle fleshy, conical, 2-4.5 cm long; flowers lacking petals and disk; staminate peduncles to 10 cm long, the flowers red, emerging from the ruptured tissue of a large, conical, fleshy receptacle, to 4 mm high and 3 mm diam, maturing acropetally (toward apex), numbering well over 100, as many as 80 functional at one time; calyx cupulate; pollen yellow, oozing simultaneously from many pores around circumference; pistillate flowers solitary in upper axils; pedicels 2-5 cm long, woody in fruit; calyx cupulate, 3-5 mm long, truncate or shallowly 5-lobed; styles 3, connate into a slender column 2-5 cm long, terminated by a fleshy disk to 1 cm diam with radiating tips to 1 cm long; ovary with ca 15 carpels, each with 1 ovule. Capsules oblate, 5-8 (10) cm diam, 2.5-5 cm long, woody, dehiscing explosively into many concentric cocci; seeds many, disk-shaped, 1.5-2 cm diam. Croat 4907, 5791. Sap and seeds are poisonous to humans and irritating to the skin (Blohm, 1962). Fruits dehisce with a loud report. They are eaten by macaws and monkeys (Allen, 1956). Bocas Species Database Characteristics: Tree |
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