Lecythidaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Couroupita guianensis

Edibility

1/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree

GrowthMedium

Plants are very susceptible to frost^[1]. Prefers a sunny position^[2]. A plant of moist to wet soils in the wild, though it can also succeed in dry soils^[2]. Young plants usually establish well and can be 2.5 metres tall by the time they are two years old^[2].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon after harvesting as possible, it does not require pre-treatment. Seeds can be sown in semi-shade, either in nursery beds or in individual containers^[2]. When fresh seed is used, a germination rate in excess of 80% usually occurs within 8 - 15 days^[2]. Seedlings should be placed in individual containers by the time they are 6 - 10cm tall, and are ready to plant out when 7 months old^[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Couroupita+guianensis>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]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.
[2]Brazilian Trees. Volume 1. 4th Edition. — Lorenzi. H. · Instituto Plantarum De Estudos Da Flora; Brazil. · 2002 · ISBN 85-86714-17-8 ↩︎Information on 350 species of Brazilian trees. Stunning photographs of each species, brief details on the plant, its uses and how to grow it from seed. A superb work, with the minor irritation that the translation from Portuguese is not of the best.
[3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
[4]Illustrated Guide to the Trees of Peru — Pennington, T.D.; Reynel, C. & Daza, A. · David Hunt; Sherbourne, England. · 2004 · ISBN 0 9538134 3 6 ↩︎A very terse guide to the trees of Peru, managing to give basic guides to a large number of genera, with more detail on a few species in each genus.
[5]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
[6]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.
[7]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
[8]Tropix 7 — CIRAD · http://tropix.cirad.fr/en ↩︎An on-line guide to the timbers of 245 species of trees.