PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Prioria copaifera
Fabaceae FAMILY

Prioria copaifera

Prioria copaifera

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

A plant of moist to wet, lowland tropical areas, usually near the coast at elevations up to 40 metres, sometimes up to 150 metres inland[1]. Young plants are tolerant of shade, but older trees require a sunny position[2]. Prefers a rich, loamy soil[1]. The tree grows best in areas that are flooded during the rainy season[3]. The seeds are very buoyant and are often found floating in the water at the edge of lakes[4].

Propagation

Seed - it normally germinates whilst inside the pod, the shoots growing out of the apex[5]. Root protrusion occurs 30 - 40 days after sowing[1]. The percentage of germination is greater than 85%[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Prioria+copaifera>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Tropical Tree Seed Manual — Vosso. J. Editor. · USDA Forest Service. · 2002 · http://www.rngr.net/Publications/ttsm ↩︎An extremely good guide, it can also be downloaded in its entirety from the address shown above.
  2. [2]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.
  3. [3]Contributions from the United States National Herbarium Vol. 27 — Standley P.C. · Smithsonian Institute; Washington. · 1928 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Contains a Flora of the Panama Canal zone
  4. [4]Flora of Barro Colorado Island — Croat. Thomas B. · Stanford University Press · 1978 · http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/croat/home · ISBN 0-8047-0950-5 ↩︎A very good flora of an area in Panama. Written some years ago, so some of the names have been changed. The book is out of print, but the whole flora is now available on the web.
  5. [5]Flora of Jamaica — Fawcett. W. & Rendle. A. B. · British Museum · 1910 ↩︎Rather dated, so many name changes. Nevertheless, a very good guide to the plants of the Caribbean. The book is out of copyright and can be legally downloaded from various websites.
  6. [6]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.
  7. [7]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  8. [8]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.