When time and funding permit, each flower (each plant species) will have its own page, and its own PDF, and eventually its own PPT so that professors and students have plenty of material on Guatemala (and Honduras, etc) to study.

Heliconia adflexa, Coban, Guatemala, Hotel Monja Blanca, FLAAR, by Nicholas Hellmuth

Florifundia
This space is for flowers
we have recently found and photographed.

Reports by FLAAR Mesoamerica
on Flora & Fauna of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo
Peten, Guatemala, Central America


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Bibliography on Ceiba pentandra
ceiba pentandra

ceiba pentandra

Ceiba Pentandra photographed by Maria Alejandra Gutierrez with a Google PXL.

Ceiba trees can attain 50 meters in height and are characterized by large buttress, swollen trunks, spreading crowns, stout spines on trunks and branches, and palmately compound leaves with five to sever leaflets. The flowers of Ceiba pentandra are abundant on mature trees, but are inconspicuous with comparatively small petals and only five stamens (Zidar, & Elisens 2009).

To the Maya, the ceiba (Yaxche) was a sacred tree that mapped out the upper, middle, and underworlds, represented the five directions, and stood in the exact center of the Earth, that is why it was called the “World Tree”, “green tree,” “first tree” or Ya’axche’ in maya. It has also been represented as a “cross–like” image, very common on sculpted elements such as palace walls, stelae, and sarcophagus lids and appeared infrequently on ceramics (Zidar, & Elisens 2009).

In addition to its beauty and cultural value for the Maya, some of the following references listed here mention important properties of Ceiba pentandra, just like nutritional potential and antipyretic activity of its leaves, and antioxidative constituent from its stem bark.

What else could we learn from the majestic tree?

PDF, Articles, Books on Ceiba pentandra

  • HONORATO, J. A., COLOTL, G., APOLINAR, F. and J. ABURTO
  • 2015
  • Principales componentes químicos de la madera de Ceiba pentandra, Hevea brasiliensis y
    Ochroma pyramidale. Madera y Bosques. Vol, 21, No. 2. Pages 131-146.

    Available Online:
    www.scielo.org.mx/pdf/mb/v21n2/v21n2a9.pdf
  • MEKAR, N. and DESWATI, D. A.
  • 2015
  • The antipyretic activity of leaves extract of Ceiba pentandra better than Gossypium arboreum.
    Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. Vol. 5, No. 7. Pages 118-121.

    Available Online:
    www.japsonline.com/admin/php/uploads/1563_pdf.pdf
  • MOJICA, E. R., MERCA, F. E. and J. R. MICOR
  • 2002
  • Fiber of kapok (Ceiba pentandra) as component of a metal sensor for lead in water samples.
    Philippine Journal of Crop Science. Vol. 27, No. 2. Pages 37-42.

    Available Online:
    www.cabi.org/gara/FullTextPDF/2009/20093019274.pdf
  • RIJA, A. A., SAID, A., MWITA, J. and K. A. MWAMENDE
  • 2013
  • Floss release, seed fall and germination of kapok seeds (Ceiba pentandra) in an urban environment.
    Open Journal of Ecology. Vol. 3, No. 6. Pages 423-430.

    Available Online:
    https://file.scirp.org/pdf/OJE_2013102217155970.pdf
  • ROJAS, J., BUDDE, K., FERNÁNDEZ, M., CHACÓN, E., QUESADA, M. and J. A. LOBO
  • 2008
  • Phenology and pollination biology of Ceiba pentandra (Bombacaceae) in the wet forest of south-eastern
    Costa Rica. Biologiezentrum. No. 80. Pages 539-545.

    Available Online:
    www.zobodat.at/pdf/STAPFIA_0088_0539-0545.pdf

 

Suggested webpages with photos and information on Ceiba pentandra

www.conabio.gob.mx/conocimiento/info_especies/arboles/doctos/14-bomba5m.PDF
Information.

http://orton.catie.ac.cr/repdoc/A0008S/A0008S31.PDF
Information.

www.arbolesornamentales.es/Ceibapentandra.htm
Information.

www.prensalibre.com/vida/escenario/la-ceiba-es-el-arbol-nacional
Article of Prensa Libre.

http://guiadelplantabosques.blogspot.com/2014/02/la-ceiba-pentandra.html
Photos.

http://recursosbiologicos.eia.edu.co/ecologia/estudiantes/ceiba.htm
Information.

http://eol.org/pages/584794/overview
Map location and photos.

www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/Difusion/cienciaCiudadana/aurbanos/ficha.php?item=Ceiba%20pentandra
Photos.

www.prota4u.org/database/protav8.asp?g=pe&p=Ceiba+pentandra+(L.)+Gaertn.
Information.

www.tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Ceiba+pentandra
Information and photos.

www.tropicos.org/name/03900422?projectid=7
Information and photos.

 

Updated June 29, 2021 by Vivi Hurtado
First posted, December, 2017

 

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