SLOTH EARS FULL SIZE

They reach full size by February and finally begin to ripen in March – a full year after flowering has ceased. Rather, nine or ten months pass before small, green pods first appear high in the crown by December.

Surprisingly, no obvious fruiting activity immediately follows the decline of the blossom. In Manuel Antonio National Park near Quepos, Costa Rica, flowering lasts from late February to early April. Guanacaste flowers are very fragrant, and during intense flowering periods their odor permeates the air for many meters in all directions. The blossoms themselves each consist of about twenty stamens and a single pistil, bound together at the base by a short, green, tubular corolla and an even shorter calyx, just 5 mm (0.197 in) long altogether. Supported by a long pedestal (4 cm or 1.57 in), each spherical white head – composed of about fifty individual flowers – sports thousands of thin, filamentous stamens as its major feature. In late February, a growth surge is initiated that re-establishes a fresh, thick crown by April.Ĭoncurrent with the leaves' renewal is the appearance of globular inflorescences (3 cm or 1.18 in) in the axils of the new leaves. Most foliage is shed in December, at the start of the dry season. The guanacaste is evergreen, or briefly deciduous for 1–2 months during the dry season. The leaves are confined to the outer shell of the crown, yet they are plentiful enough to make it moderately dense and green. Near its base, the twiggy petiole bares a small, raised, oval gland. Tree forms then become somewhat narrower, though crowns are still rounded, and hemispherical shapes are maintained by those that have reached the canopy. In the forest (where competition for light is intense) trees tend to become taller, and branching occurs at a higher level. Under these conditions, massive, extended, horizontal limbs emerge low on the boles, forming giant, hemispherical, widely spreading crowns. Frequently, guanacaste trees grow as single specimens in a sunny pasture. The height at which branches first occur along the trunk – as well as the overall tree shape – vary considerably among individuals and are habitat-dependent characteristics. Older specimens often present broken, chipped or scarred bark. and their confluence lends a characteristic reddish hue to the bark of guanacaste saplings. In young trees these fissures are closer together. The bark is light gray, with prominent dark reddish-brown vertical fissures. Unusual in a tree of these proportions, buttresses are completely lacking. The guanacaste is a medium-sized to large tree, growing to 25–35 m (82–115 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 3.5 m (11 ft) in diameter. In the Yucatán peninsula, it is known by the Mayan name, pich. In El Salvador, it is known as conacaste. Other common names include Devil's ear and earpod tree, parota and orejón (Spanish) or huanacaxtle ( Nahuatl). In North America it is often called elephant-ear tree, due to the shape of the seedpods. The abundance of this tree, especially in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, where it is prized for the shady relief it provides from the intense sun, coupled with its immensity, have made it a widely recognized species. It is known for its large proportions, its expansive, often spherical crown, and its curiously shaped seedpods. Enterolobium cyclocarpum, commonly known as guanacaste, caro caro, monkey-ear tree or elephant-ear tree, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas, from central Mexico south to northern Brazil ( Roraima) and Venezuela.

Sloth ears