
Brosimum alicastrum
Brosimum alicastrum
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
The plant grows naturally lowland areas of hot, humid, tropical climates with a seasonal dry period[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18 - 25°c, but can tolerate 12 - 35°c[2]. When established, it can tolerate occasional, short-lived, light frosts[3]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 4,000mm, but tolerates 500 - 5,000mm[2]. Of easy culture, it grows best in a humus-rich, fertile, moisture-retentive soil in full sun or light shade[4]. Very tolerant of shallow, calcareous soils[4]. Established plants are very drought tolerant and also tolerate seasonal flooding[4]. Plants can escape from cultivation and become weedy in some tropical areas[3]. Trees can commence producing fruit in 5 - 6 years from seed[1]. Plants flower intermittently throughout the year[4] and can produce two or three harvests[1].
Propagation
Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe[5]. Greenwood cuttings. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Brosimum+alicastrum>
Pollinators
Wind
References
- [1]Perennial Edible Fruits of the Tropics : an Inventory — Martin, F. W.; Campbell, C. W.; Rubertbe, R. M. · U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service · 1987 ↩︎A booklet giving terse details of almost 300 species of edible fruits, plus regional lists of Botanical and Common names for over 2,500 less well-known edible fruits of the tropics.
- [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [3]Trade Winds Fruit — http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/index.htm ↩︎The on-line catalogue of a company selling seeds. Gives descriptions, photos and uses of a very wide range of fruit and other food-producing plants plus ornamentals.
- [4]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
- [5]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
- [6]Tropical Timbers of the World. Ag. Handbook No. 607. — Chudnoff. Martin. · USDA Forest Service. Wisconsin. · 1984 ↩︎Terse details on the properties of the wood of almost 400 species of trees from the Tropics.
- [7]Tree Species of Panama — http://ctfs.arnarb.harvard.edu/webatlas/mainframe.php?order=s ↩︎Factsheets on all the tree and shrub species of Panama, giving identification guide, brief guide to the species and some uses. A vast, but rather incomplete work as of 15/07/09.
- [8]Flora of Costa Rica — Standley P.C. · Field Museum of Natural History; Chicago · 1938 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎Rather dated, but an excellent treatment of the area. Available for download from the internet.
- [9]A Century of Trees of Panama. — Pittier H. Mell C.D. · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎A work that was very difficult to get published according to the correspondence contained at the start!. A treatment of 100 different species with descriptions and details of uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [10]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
- [11]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
- [12]Nuts. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · 1948 · ISBN - ↩︎Rather old but still a masterpiece. Has sections on tropical and temperate plants with edible nuts plus a section on nut plants in Britain. Very readable.
- [13]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
- [14]Medicinal Plants of the Guianas — DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J. · Smithsonian Museum · http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html ↩︎A down-loadable PDF document of a book in pre-publication awaiting illustration. An excellent, if rather terse, guide to the traditional medicinal uses of the plants of the region