Earpodtree

Enterolobium cyclocarpum is a large deciduous tree of the Fabaceae family growing 25-40 m tall with a massive spreading hemispherical crown often broader than it is tall and a stout buttressed trunk reaching 2-3 m in diameter. Bark is grey-brown, smooth at first and developing shallow fissures and corky plates with age. Leaves are alternate, bipinnate, 15-40 cm long, with four to nine pairs of pinnae each bearing 15-30 pairs of small oblong leaflets 6-12 mm long that fold together at night and in dull weather. Inflorescences are globose heads 1.5-2 cm across borne on slender peduncles in upper leaf axils; flowers are small, with greenish-white narrowly tubular corollas and numerous long-protruding white to creamy stamens that give the head a powderpuff appearance. The distinctive fruit is a thick, woody, indehiscent pod coiled into a flat circular 'ear' 7-12 cm across, glossy dark brown at maturity and containing 10-20 hard, glossy, dark brown seeds embedded in a sweetish pulp. Native to seasonally dry tropical forests from southern Mexico through Central America to northern South America, often planted as a shade tree.