Description

Cavanillesia Platanifolia – Cuipo Tree Overview

Cavanillesia Platanifolia (Cuipo) is one of the giants of the American tropics, reaching up to 150 feet in height. In form it resembles the African Baobab, with a straight, very thick cylindrical trunk — sometimes swollen — supported by small buttress roots. Despite its massive trunk, it develops a rather small, somewhat rounded, flat-based, and sparse crown, with branching beginning high on the trunk. The bark is smooth and gray.

Cuipo Tree – Description

Adult leaves are large, bright green, nearly round, simple, entire, and about 8 inches long. Juvenile leaves are palmate to square. Flowers are borne in small clusters at the branch ends and are pinkish-orange to red, each about 1 inch long with extended stamens, pollinated by insects. Fruits are distinctive 5-winged capsules, about 6 inches long and pinkish-orange. Flowering and fruiting occur when the tree is leafless. Propagation is by seed.

Cuipo Wood & Traditional Uses

The wood of Cavanillesia Platanifolia is coarse, soft, and extremely light — comparable to balsa wood and usable as a substitute for it. Trunks are used locally to make dugout canoes and to float rafts of hardwood logs downstream. The inner bark can be bleached and processed into paper.

Landscape Applications

The Cuipo tree originates from tropical dry forests and adapts well to a variety of well-drained soils. Due to its exceptional size, it is suitable only for extensive parks or large open gardens, where it functions primarily as a remarkable botanical curiosity and large-scale specimen.

Other common names: Macondo, Volao, Pijio, Bongo, Pretino, Hameli.