Árbol Espino de Vaca

One of our objectives of the October expedition was to photograph the “Espino de Vaca” tree, so we spent one morning walking to the Aldea El Rosario where we could document it.

The next day, in Tapon Creek Reserve, at the edge of the trail we were able to find one again. This tree is important, since it is part of the series of Edible Plants of Wetlands of the Municipality of Livingston, Izabal.

Pithecellobium laceolatum is a species of tree belonging to the FABACEAE family. It lives in tropical and subtropical areas, grows from 0 to 1800 meters above sea level; This species is distributed from the south of the USA, Mexico and Central America. This plant serves to regenerate and improve the quality of the soils because it is associated with other species of the same or other families. It is adapted to survive in climates from very dry to very humid.

Cattail-Thypa-dominguensis-Laguna-Grande-Rio-Sarstun

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	Plantae
Order	Fabales
Family	Fabaceae
Genus	Pithecellobium
Species	Pithecellobium laceolatum

Botanical description:

Size	Reaches up to 15 m in height.
Cortex	Its base measures 30 cm or more, it has horizontal marks from which two spines are detached.
Flowers	3 to 8 centimeters hermaphroditic, small white to yellow in the shape of spikes.
Leaves	Coriaceae, alternate, pinnate (composed of two pairs of leaflets) 5 to 10 cm long and 2 3.5 cm wide.
Fruits	Young green pods between 5 to 20 cm and turn an intense red color when ripe.
Seeds	Up to 8 seeds per pod that are 1 to 1.5 cm long and 0.8 cm wide Brown.
Roots	Pivoting deep and strong.