My cecropia
As a group, cecropias (Cecropia spp.) are one of the most conspicuous genera of trees in the Neotropics….They are thin-boled, spindly trees with bamboolike rings surrounding a gray trunk. Their leaves are large, deeply lobed, and palmate, somewhat resembling a parasol.” (p. 71) Kricher, J., 1997. A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, and Ecosystems of the New World Tropics (2nd ed – 1999), Princeton University Press, 451 pp.
From my kitchen window, I see a cecropia tree. From my bathroom window, when I take a shower, I see a cecropia tree. From the end of my driveway, when returning home, I see a cecropia tree. The cecropia tree, more than any other, reminds me that I’m in the tropics.
There’s a gap in the vegetative screen between our house and our neighbor’s house. I’ve long wanted to plant a cecropia shoot or two in that gap. I know that it will grow quickly (up to 3 m per year, according to Kricher), that it will grow tall relative to the other trees here (up to 18 m), and that it attracts birds and even sloths (though I’ve not yet seen a sloth here). Kricher has cited research that shows that 48 animal species, including leafcutting ants, iguanas, birds, and mammals make direct use of a particular species of cecropia, Cecropia obtusifolia. Further, a “…total of thirty-three bird species from ten families, including some North American migrants, feed on cecropia flowers or fruit.” In Kricher’s words, “Such trees function for tropical birds as fast-food restaurants.” [p. 72]
I see birds most frequently when looking at the cecropia tree out the kitchen window. Two of the more interesting species I’ve seen there are the Crested Oropendola and the Lineated Woopecker.
The first bird image is of the Crested Oropendola was taken by Glen Tepke on a trip to Panama. And here’s a neat description of the behavior of the Crested Oropendola.
The second bird image is of the Lineated Woodpecker was taken in Mexico and it appears to be clutching to the side of a cecropia. No coincidence, probably, because these woodpeckers are eating the ants associated with the cecropia (see below for more on the ants).
Last year I asked our gardener to help me find a cecropia shoot to transplant to grow into the vegetative gap. He immediately looked under the tree of an adult cecropia, to no avail. But he did tell me that the cecropia is called “guarumbo” in Panama. For the past year, I’ve kept my eyes peeled underneath the guarumbo trees bordering our property.
A couple of months ago one of the trees began producing fruit. I blocked off a large area underneath the tree so I wouldn’t accidentally mow down a baby cecropia. I saw a couple of fruit catkins on the ground. I put one in a pot of dirt and just watched it for a week, but then our young Labrador discovered it and that was the end of my experiment. Then I read somewhere on the web (I can’t find the source now – when I do, I’ll provide a link) that birds were responsible for seed dispersal of cecropia.
Then, in late July, I began to notice small cecropia shoots along the side of the road.
And also in our driveway. So I began to mow under the cecropia tree again and took my spade to the driveway. I’ve now planted two young shoots in the area near the neighbor-vegetation-gap (here’s one of them), and I’ll keep close track of how quickly they grow.
A couple of notes on the drawbacks to purposefully growing cecropia trees.
One is aesthetic. Because the leaves (and stems) are so large, when they drop and shrivel, they are unsightly. Earlier this year the leaves seemed to drop in great abundance, perhaps just before the tree was about to flower.
The second drawback is a warning. Most cecropias are hosts to a biting ant, genus Azteca, and because the ants live in the hollow stems of the tree, cutting one down can be treacherous!
Nevertheless, cecropia trees are also known for their medicinal qualities, and in Cuba, nearly every part of the tree is used in some form of medicine. Crecropia has recently been reclassified and place into the family Urticaceae, the Nettle family, which, for those of us from temperate climates, is also a family known for its medicinal qualities.
Finally, for the classically minded, yes, Cecropia is named for Cecrops, first King of Athens.
The thing I most want to know about trees, and what most websites do not mention, is whether they are deciduous or evergreen. Can you tell me if Cecropia is deciduous or evergreen? Thank you.
Judy, it is evergreen. It does drop its leaves, but not all of them all at once, even at the time of year when it drops *lots* of them.
Some, or many (depending on what source you read), tropical trees do drop their leaves before the dry season. Around here, I believe fewer than half lose their leaves, but I haven’t taken any data.
Mary
Mary, we are really enjoying your website. We bought property in Cuesta de Piedra and Buena Vista and are currently reforesting them. Your info is just the greatest.
By your longitude/latitude, it looks like you would be pretty close to us in Buena Vista, on the road to Volcan.
We have someone helping us with the plantings, as we are still in Canada. Your website is helping us give our gardeners some ideas for species for this area.
Thanks and we will be visiting you often.
Terry y Chris
Thanks, Terry y Chris. Here’s a link to what the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in conjunction with Yale School of Forestry, is doing in the area of reforestation. It might be of interest to you.
http://research.yale.edu/prorena/
Love your information on the Cecropias but what I really need to know is where can I locate one to buy. I live in south Florida and believe the weather would be fine to grow one but am having a difficult time locating any.
Hmm. I don’t know anything about nurseries in Florida. Have you tried searching on google?
I will say that Cecropias don’t strike me as trees that could be easily grown in nurseries. The seeds are very small and dispersed by birds. I have transplanted two young trees, but despite tender caring, they’re not doing as well as the young Cecropias elsewhere in the area.
I am so happy to find sites like this. We are in the process of retiring to Panama (Palmira del Banco north of Palma Real) in Chiriqui province and I have been researching plants and making a spreadsheet so that we can re-plant the farm that we purchased with plants for birds and other wildlife. I often wonder if people living in Chiriqui province could work together to create a “bluebird trail” type of effort to help re-establish some of the monkeys and birds that are so diminished in the area by strategically planting some of the needed plants. It seems that not all of the Americans, Canadians, etc want to move into gated communities where the natural habitat has been cleared for the sake of copying the “suburban life” they had back in their country of origin. I am looking forward to meeting others with shared goals.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your comment. You’ve got some good ideas, and I think you’ll find a significant like-minded community here.
Welcome!
[...] 8, 2008 by miconia A couple of years ago I wrote about how much I like cecropias because they represent to me, the quintessential tropical tree. Maybe I should say “a” [...]
[...] couple of years ago I wrote about how much I like cecropias because they represent to me, the quintessential tropical tree. Maybe I should say “a” [...]
[...] couple of years ago someone in a comment to my post on cecropias asked whether cecropia trees were deciduous or evergreen. I had mentioned that the leaves, being [...]