Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Lamiales > Bignoniaceae > Crescentia > Crescentia alata

Crescentia alata (morrito)

Synonyms: Crescentia ternata; Crescentia trifolia; Otophora paradoxa; Parmentiera alata (homotypic); Pteromischus alatus (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

Crescentia alata (variously called Mexican calabash, jícaro, morro, morrito, winged calabash) is a species in the trumpet-flower family Bignoniaceae and in the calabash trees genus Crescentia, native to southern Mexico and Central America south to Costa Rica. It has been observed that domestic horses may smash the fruit with their hooves and eat the pulp and seeds (suggesting that they may serve as seed distribution vectors). The seeds are edible and high in protein with a licorice-like sweet taste, used in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua to make a kind of horchata called semilla de jícaro.
View Wikipedia Record: Crescentia alata

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-Low
Shade Percentage [1]  91 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium-High
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Lifespan [3]  Perennial
Specific Gravity [4]  0.71
Structure [2]  Tree
Height [1]  40 feet (12.3 m)
Width [1]  29 feet (8.9 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 11 Low Temperature: 40 F° (4.4 C°) → 50 F° (10 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 11 Low Temperature: 40 F° (4.4 C°) → 50 F° (10 C°)
Water Use [1]  Moderate

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Santa Rosa National Park II 95780 Costa Rica

Predators

Providers

Pollinated by 
Phyllostomus discolor (pale spear-nosed bat)[10]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 3USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 4WOOD SPECIFIC GRAVITY IN SPECIES FROM TWO TROPICAL FORESTS IN MEXICO, Josefina Barajas-Morales, IAWA Bulletin n.s., Vol. 8 (2), 1987 143-148
♦ 5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 6Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 7Population dynamics, reproduction, and diet of the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasoae) in Jalisco, Mexico: implications for conservation, Kathryn E. Stoner, Karla A. O.-Salazar, Roxana C. R.-Fernández and Mauricio Quesada, Biodiversity and Conservation, Volume 12, Number 2, 357-373 (2003)
♦ 8Spermophilus adocetus, Troy L. Best, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 504, pp. 1-4 (1995)
♦ 9Sciurus variegatoides, Troy L. Best, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 500, pp. 1-6 (1995)
♦ 10Phyllostomus discolor, Gary G. Kwiecinski, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 801, pp. 1–11 (2006)
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0