Gustavia superba
Lecythidaceae FAMILY

Gustavia superba

Gustavia superba

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthMedium

A plant for the humid, lowland tropics, where it is mainly found at elevations below 600 metres, though also extends to over 1,000 metres. It is intolerant of temperatures lower than 5°c[1]. Prefers a moist, rich, slightly acid soil in light shade[1, 2].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Gustavia+superba>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]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.
  2. [2]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.
  3. [3]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.