''Schizolobium parahyba'', the Brazilian firetree, or Brazilian fern tree, is a species of tree from tropical America. It is the sole species in genus ''Schizolobium''. It is notable for its fast growth (up to 3 meters per year). According to Francis Hallé, this tree may even reach 30 meters high in only five years, which would make it one of the fastest growing trees ever (an average growth of 6 meters per year).Hallé, Francis (2005). ''Plaidoyer pour l'arbre'', p. 57 (Actes Sud) The tree is locally known by many names, including ''guapuruvu'', ''guapiruvu'', ''bacurubu'', ''ficheira'' ("token tree"), ''faveira'' ("fava tree"), ''pau-de-vintém'' ("penny-wood"), ''pau-de-tamanco'' ("

clog Clogs are a type of footwear that has a thick, rigid sole typically made of wood, although in American English, shoes with rigid soles made of other materials are also called clogs. Traditional clogs remain in use as protective footwear in a ...

-wood"), ''umbela'', and ''parica''. It was first described by J. M. C. Vellozo in 1825 under the name ''Cassia parahyba''. The species name likely refers to the Paraíba River in Southeast

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Description

The mature tree typically has a straight trunk, up to 40 meters tall and 80 cm wide, that branches out only near the top. The bark is smooth and gray-green except by the scars left by fallen leaves. The leaves are

bipinnate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...

, a

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

or more in length, with a green stem and 30–50 opposite pinnae, each with 40–60 leaflets 2–3 cm long; they are clustered near the end of the branches, and fall off completely in the dry season. Young individuals, often unbranched and with leaves over 2 meters long, may be mistaken for

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s or

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

s. The numerous bright yellow

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

-producing flowers, about 3.5 cm in diameter, bloom from October through December in the Southern Hemisphere, after the leaves have fallen off. In Southeast Brazil they are visited chiefly by bees ''

Centris labrosa The genus ''Centris'' contains circa 250 species of large apid bees occurring in the Neotropical and Nearctic realms, from Kansas to Argentina. Most females of these bees possess adaptations for carrying floral oils rather than (or in addition ...

'', '' Centris varia'', '' Xylocopa frontalis'' and '' Megachille'' species.I. Sazima, Mardiore Pinheiro and Marlies Sazima (2009), "A presumed case of functional convergence between the flowers of ''Schizolobium parahyba'' (Fabaceae) and species of Malpighiaceae". ''Plant Systematics and Evolution'' volume 281, issue 1-4, pages 247-250 The fruits ripen between April and June. Each fruit is a tadpole-like pod about 10 cm long, containing a single oval seed, smooth and brown.

Diffusion

The native range spans from

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

to southern

. It is sun-loving and prefers open and semi-open areas; it is quite rare in densely forested areas.

Uses

The wood is odorless, straw-colored, soft and light (

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

0.32 to 0.39 g/ cm³, increasing with age). Formerly used for

dugout canoe A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...

s, it is now used for toys, boxes, shoe heels, the inner layers of

laminated wood Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

, and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

.Lorenzi, Harri (1992). "Árvores brasileiras: Manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativa do Brasil." Editora Plantarum. 368 pages. It is easily cultivated, yielding 600 m³ of wood per

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

after 10 years.Geraldo Bortoletto and Ugo Leandro Belini (2003), "Produção de lâminas e manufatura de compensados a partir da madeira de guapuruvu (''Schizolobium parayba'' Blake) proveniente de um plantio misto de espécies nativas", ''Cerne'' volume 9, issue 1, pages 16–28. The leaves contain water-soluble substances that act as antidotes to the

bite Biting is an action involving a set of teeth closing down on an object. It is a common zoological behavior, being found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and arthropods. Biting is also an action humans participate ...

s of ''

Bothrops ''Bothrops'' is a genus of highly venomous pit vipers Endemism, endemic to the Neotropics.McDiarmid RW, Jonathan A. Campbell, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1''. Herpetologist ...

'' snakes.Luis Henrique F Vale, Mirian M Mendes, Renata S Fernandes, Tássia R Costa, Lorane I S Hage-Melim, Maicon A Sousa, Amélia Hamaguchi, Maria I Homsi-Brandeburgo, Suzelei C França, Carlos H T P Silva, Paulo S Pereira, Andreimar M Soares, Veridiana M Rodrigues (2011) "Protective Effect of ''Schizolobium Parahyba'' Flavonoids Against Snake Venoms and Isolated Toxins." ''Current Topics on Medicinal Chemistry'', The seeds are used traditionally as

bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 ...

s and

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or ...

s.Ruth J. Smith (2005),
Botanical Beads of the World
Accessed on 2012-03-07.

References

{{Authority control Caesalpinioideae Flora of Central America Flora of Southern America Flora of northern South America Flora of Colombia Trees of Brazil Trees of Peru Plants described in 1829 Monotypic Fabaceae genera