Ficus insipida
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''Ficus insipida'' is a common tropical tree in the fig genus of the
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...
growing in forest
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s along rivers. It ranges from
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
to northern
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
.


Taxonomy

The tree was described in 1806 under the scientific name ''Ficus insipida'' (literally "insipid fig") by
Carl Ludwig Willdenow Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was al ...
, having studied the herbarium specimens collected in Caracas by the gardener Franz Bredemeyer in the 1780s during the . Willdenow reports its fruit are tasteless. Incongruously, among the many species of figs to grow in the region, this species is in fact recognisable by its large and sweet figs (when ripe). In the 1960 ''Flora of Panama'', Gordon P. DeWolf Jr. lumped the species ''F. adhatodifolia'' and ''F. crassiuscula'' as synonyms of ''F. insipida'', but his taxonomic interpretation was not followed by subsequent authorities. ''
Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extendi ...
'' expert Cees Berg distinguished two allopatric or almost allopatric subspecies in 1984: * ''Ficus insipida'' subsp. ''insipida''
Willd. Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. Willdenow was al ...
- Largely
glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
twigs, leaves and petioles. Occurs in
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...
, the Caribbean, Venezuela to Bolivia. * ''Ficus insipida'' subsp. ''scabra'' C.C.Berg - Much hairier plant. Occurs in the Guianas, from Venezuela to northeast Brazil. With about 750 species, ''
Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extendi ...
'' (
Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...
) is one of the largest angiosperm genera. ''F. insipida'' is classified in subgenus '' Pharmacosycea'', section ''Pharmacosycea'', subsection ''Bergianae'' (for which it is the
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
), along with ''F. adhatodifolia'', ''F. carchiana'', ''F. crassiuscula'', ''F. gigantosyce'', ''F. lapathifolia'', ''F. mutisii'', ''F. oapana'' (''spec. nov.''? ined.), ''F. obtusiuscula'', ''F. piresiana'', ''F. rieberiana'' and ''F. yoponensis''. Although recent work suggests that subgenus ''Pharmacosycea'' is
polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...
, section ''Pharmacosycea'' appears to be monophyletic and is a sister group to the rest of the genus ''Ficus''. Mysteriously, genetic testing of a single individual of the three fig species ''F. maxima'', ''F. tonduzii'' and ''F. yoponensis'', each collected on
Barro Colorado Island Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant par ...
in Panama, found each species to be phylogenetically nestled within ''F. insipida''. All four species occur together in a similar large range, but nonetheless, these species are quite easily differentiated morphologically. Strangely, in the case of the ''F. maxima'' and ''F. tonduzii'' specimens, these were nestled within a different haplotype, with an Amazonian distribution, as opposed to clustering within the haplotype found contemporaneously in Panama. An explanation for this is not readily apparent: the species may have recently evolved from ''F. insipida'', although this would seem unlikely, or perhaps all three specimens just happened to be hybrids, another unlikely possibility.


Description

This is a tree with
buttress root Buttress roots also known as plank roots are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They prevent the tree from falling over (hence t ...
s that ranges from tall. Because this is a
pioneer species Pioneer species are hardy species that are the first to colonize barren environments or previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems that have been disrupted, such as by wildfire. Pioneer flora Some lichens grow on rocks without soil, so ...
which quickly colonises secondary forest, and it is also a fast-growing species which can grow into a massive tree in only 100 years or so, it is generally readily recognisable as the largest trees in such secondary woodlands. Leaves vary shape from narrow to ellipse-shaped; they range from long and from wide.


Similar species

In Costa Rica or Panama it may be confused with ''Ficus yoponensis'', but this similar lowland fig tree has smaller leaves, stipules and fruit, and only occurs in
primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
, whereas ''F. insipida'' is also found in secondary forest. Another similar fig species in this area is ''F. crassivenosa'', but this species has differently shaped leaves and does not have the same habitat preference (the tendency to grow in association with water courses).


Distribution

The nominate subspecies occurs from Mexico south throughout Central America to Colombia and Venezuela and thence to Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Amazonian Brazil, and north from Venezuela to
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
and the
Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...
, whereas subspecies ''scabra'' occurs from the Guianan Shield of northeast Venezuela eastwards through the Guianas to northwestern Brazil in the states of Amapá and
Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...
. In Mexico it has been recorded to occur in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas in the north, southwards to Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Tabasco and Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave. In both Costa Rica and Nicaragua it is found in lowlands along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as in the central valleys. In Bolivia it has been recorded in the northern and eastern departments of Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz, Pando and Santa Cruz: most of the country except the
Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
in the southwest. In Ecuador it is known from the
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Manabí, Morona-Santiago, Napo, Pastaza, Sucumbíos and Zamora-Chinchipe. In Colombia the species has been recorded in the departments of Amazonas, Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caquetá, Casanare, Cauca, Chocó, Cundinamarca, La Guajira, Guaviare, Huila, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Risaralda, Santander, Tolima and Valle. The distribution in Brazil includes, besides Amapá and Pará mentioned above, the states of Acre, Amazonas and Rondônia. In the state of Pará both subspecies appear to occur, although this is unclear.


Prehistoric distribution

Although it is often stated that the Amazon rainforest is ancient, much of it has in fact grown quite recently, after the end of the last Ice Age and with a large expansion to the south 3,000 years ago. During the Ice Age large tracts of the Amazon were covered in
savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
, with the forest having retreated to numerous refugia. Traces of this were found in the genetic structure of the populations of the
nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...
subspecies: although populations are reasonably diverse from Mexico to the Andes area, the trees in the populations in most of the Amazon area are genetically similar to one another, with the occurrence of a "single widespread haplotype" and the trees in much of Bolivia having no discernable genetic diversity found in the tested sequences at all, indicating they only recently colonised this region. In this the species shows a similar pattern to other lowland, rainforest trees.


Spatial distribution

The nominate subspecies is quite common in Nicaragua and Panama, but subspecies ''scabra'' is conversely said to be a rare tree in the Guianas.


Ecology


Habitat

The typical
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
of the nominate subspecies is lowland forests down to the coast. ''Ficus insipida'' subsp. ''insipida'' does not grow above 1,100m in Costa Rica, and is found down to 50m, or sea level. It grows between 0–700m in altitude in Nicaragua (exceptionally up to 1300m). It can be found in either very humid, humid or dry climates, but it is almost always encountered growing along rivers, and often on slopes. It is found in thickly wooded small hills abutting the coast in Atlantic Costa Rica. The ''scabra'' subspecies appears to have a slightly different habitat preference, being typically found on slopes in either rainforest or mountain savannas in the Guianas.


Lifecycle and community ecology

Like many figs and other rainforest fruit trees, ''F. insipida'' is a 'mass-fruiter', and like many (tropical rainforest) figs but unlike many rainforest fruit trees, individual ''F. insipida'' trees fruit according to a staggered, asynchronous schedule with respect to other neighbouring conspecifics. Thus, irrespective of the season, there is always a fig flowering and fruiting somewhere, which can be advantageous to wildlife, and functions to force its wasp pollinators to seek out a new tree, and thus foster
cross pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...
. Like the fruit, the new leaves are produced in asynchronous flushes. It is a monoecious species, the figs, actually a specialised
inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
called a
synconium Syconium (plural ''syconia'') is the type of inflorescence borne by figs (genus ''Ficus''), formed by an enlarged, fleshy, hollow receptacle with multiple ovaries on the inside surface. In essence, it is really a fleshy stem with a number of flow ...
, are densely coated in minute flowers ('
floret This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
s') on the inside, both functionally male and female. The female flowers mature first; they are found in two different versions, with a short or long
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
. The stigmas of the female flowers are thickly intertwined and coherent to each other at the same height (short-styled florets are simply positioned somewhat higher using
pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...
and somewhat longer ovaries to maintain the stigma surface), and form a surface layer a certain distance from the inner wall of the fig, called the synstigma - this synstigma essentially functions as a platform on which the pollinating wasps must walk and from where they must
oviposit The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...
their eggs. The synstigma is so coherent, pollen tubes may grow from one stigma into the
ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the '' integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the ...
of another neighbouring floret. The length specified by the distance between the synstigma and the ovules helps determine which wasp species may live in a particular fig species, and also cause the females to mostly lay their eggs in the short-styled florets (although in ''F. insipida'' this is not so strict, and both types of florets are fertile and both can host a wasp
larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...
). The flowers found within the figs of ''F. insipida'' are pollinated by the females of tiny wasps belonging to the genus ''
Tetrapus ''Tetrapus'' is a genus of fig wasp native to the Americas. Fig wasps have an obligate mutualism with the fig species they pollinate. ''Tetrapus'' pollinates figs in the subgenus '' Pharmacosycea''. ''Tetrapus'' appears to be the sole genus ...
'', which complete much of their lifecycle within the developing figs. The female wasps are weak-jawed, and rely on the males to free them from their figs and individual fruit in which they develop and
pupate A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
, but only the females are winged, and can thus fly to the next fig to lay their eggs. The males develop first, they are wingless but have stronger jaws, which they use to chew their way to freedom from their host ovule. Once free, they chew free the females, copulating with them while the females are still largely trapped in their ovules -this ensures each female has sex, females which do not copulate will only produce males as offspring. The males also chew holes through the walls of the fig and open up the ostiole (a small opening at the apex of the fig), allowing the females to escape. Meanwhile, the male flowers within the fig finally shed their pollen, which adhere to the females in specialised pockets or simply onto their body surface. The females search for a new fig in which to lay their eggs, and upon arriving upon one must embark upon their greatest challenge: forcing their way within through the ostiole. Although the wasps are quite minuscule, they nonetheless regularly undertake reasonable journeys, as can be seen in the genetic structure of the fig tree populations: there is clear evidence of abundant
outcrossing Out-crossing or out-breeding is the technique of crossing between different breeds. This is the practice of introducing distantly related genetic material into a breeding line, thereby increasing genetic diversity. Outcrossing can be a usefu ...
in the
nuclear DNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. I ...
(which is transported in the pollen dusted on the females, as opposed to mitochondrial DNA). The ostiole is barred by a series of bracts, but unlike in many other ''Ficus'' species, only the uppermost ostiolar bracts are interlocking and
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
, with the inner bracts positioned inward and relatively open, thus forming a long slit-like tunnel allowing access to the central cavity. Nevertheless, entering the cavity is a strenuous task, and the females are often die in the tunnel, or are damaged by the ordeal, with their wings invariably torn off from forcing their way through the bracts. Once inside, the females inject their eggs with their ovipositor, through the styles of the correct length, into the ovules: one egg an ovule. While doing so, the females pollinate the other flowers when walking around on the synstigmatic surface. The seeds and the larvae mature in a few weeks, at approximately the same rate. It uses
zoochory In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...
to disperse its seeds. The figs are eaten by bats, howler,
spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
and
capuchin monkey The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the " organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some tropical fores ...
s in the Guianas. An especially important species to aid in dispersal via
endozoochory In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...
in Costa Rica is possibly the large and common trout-like fish '' Brycon guatemalensis'', of which the adults primarily feed upon the fallen leaves and figs of ''F. insipida''. The seeds can survive the passage through the gut of the fish, although their viability is significantly diminished. Nonetheless, the fish may have a specific value for the fig as a dispersal agent: this fig species primarily and typically is found along rivers, and fish have the advantage of generally dispersing the seeds along rivers. Furthermore, fish are able to disperse upriver, and thus maintain upriver populations, whereas dispersal by floating the figs in water (
hydrochory In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...
) alone is generally in a downriver direction (in most habitats). The leaves and especially the fruit of ''F. insipida'' and ''F. yoponensis'' are a preferred food of howler monkeys in Panama (''
Alouatta palliata The mantled howler (''Alouatta palliata'') is a species of howler monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central and South America. It is one of the monkey species most often seen and heard in the wild in Central America. It takes its "mantled ...
''), with one troop on Barro Colorado Island spending one quarter of its time feeding on these two types of trees. The asynchronous plant characteristics, and the food preference of the monkeys, results in the monkeys adopting specific foraging routes in order to check up on the status of as much of the potential trees as can be done efficiently.


Uses

The
latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
is sold in South America as an
anthelmintic Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them and without causing significant damage to the host. They may ...
, marketed as 'doctor oje' (''ojé'' in Brazil). An analysis of overdoses in one area of Peru found only 3 cases that were apparently fatal and 39 cases requiring hospitalization over a 12 year period, which, based on an analysis of probable sales in the region, amounted to very low 0.01–0.015% fatality and 0.13–0.2% hospitalization rates. The authors concluded the product was safe when dosed properly. No serious adverse effects were observed in any of several clinical trials on the product conducted in Peru, except for possibly one miscarriage in one 18-year-old woman (who did not disclose her pregnancy to those running the clinical trial) receiving a very low dose of ojé. The latex can be purified, leaving a complex of enzymes known as
ficin Ficain also known as ficin, debricin, or higueroxyl delabarre () is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the latex sap from the stems, leaves, and unripe fruit of the American wild fig tree ''Ficus insipida''. Ficain was originally called ficin, a ...
, a white powder that was first produced in 1930. This product is likely safe. It was initially observed that intestinal nematodes dissolved in a ficin solution, which increased interest in the product at the time as an anthelmintic, although it was not widely adopted. Ficin is a mix of different enzymes and can be produced from many different species of ''Ficus''. The main proteolytic enzyme found in ficin produced from ''F. insipida'' has officially been named
ficain Ficain also known as ficin, debricin, or higueroxyl delabarre () is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the latex sap from the stems, leaves, and unripe fruit of the American wild fig tree ''Ficus insipida''. Ficain was originally called ficin, a ...
.Perelló, Mario; Arribére, María Cecilia; Caffini, Néstor; Priolo, Nora (2000): Proteolytic Enzymes from the Latex of ''Ficus pumila'' L. (Moraceae).''Acta Farm Bonaerense'' 19(4): 257–262. Purified ficin has numerous medical and industrial uses. It is used for cleaning in the production of stitching material for sutures, to prepare animal
arteries An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...
before transplantation into humans, and for unmasking
antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune respons ...
s in
serology Serology is the scientific study of serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in response to an infection (against a given mic ...
. It is similarly used for cleaning the animal intestines used as sausage or cheese-casings. It is used as an additive to make freeze-resistant beer, and has been added to certain formulations of
meat tenderizer A meat tenderizer, or meat pounder is a hand-powered tool used to tenderize slabs of meat in the preparation for cooking. Although a meat tenderizer can be made out of virtually any object, there are three types manufactured specifically for ...
s along with related
protease A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the ...
-type enzymes. According to Schultes and Raffauf in their 1990 book ''The Healing Forest'', the fruit of ''Ficus anthelmintica'' (an antiquated synonym of ''F. insipida'') has been used by an unknown people somewhere in the northern Amazon of Brazil as an
aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocai ...
and for what they categorise as a ' memory enhancer'.


Conservation

As of 2021, the conservation status has not been assessed by the
Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora The Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora (CNCFlora) is a Brazilian nonprofit organization that determines conservation statuses of various Brazilian plant species. It intends to create a Red List (''lista vermelha'' in Portuguese) of plants â ...
, nor in the
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
, nor by the Costa Rican national authority. In Costa Rica this species is present in numerous protected areas, such as Estación Biológica La Selva,
Carara National Park Carara National Park is a national park in the Central Pacific Conservation Area located near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It was established on 27 April 1978 as a biological reserve, but its growing popularity after 1990 forced the government ...
, Corcovado National Park, and Jairo Mora Sandoval Gandoca-Manzanillo Mixed Wildlife Refuge.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2990943 insipida Flora of Morelos Flora of the State of Mexico Trees of Central America Trees of Chiapas Trees of Colima Trees of Durango Trees of Guerrero Trees of Jalisco Trees of Mexico Trees of Michoacán Trees of Nayarit Trees of Oaxaca Trees of Puebla Trees of Querétaro Trees of Sinaloa Trees of San Luis Potosí Trees of Sonora Trees of South America Trees of Tabasco Trees of Tamaulipas Trees of Veracruz Trees of Peru