''Alfaroa costaricensis'', also known as campano chile, chiciscua, gaulin, gavilán Colorado, or gavilancillo, is nut bearing timber tree in the

Juglandaceae The Juglandaceae are a plant family known as the walnut family. They are trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia. The nine or ten genera in the family have ...

family. It is native to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

, 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 ...

, through

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

to Colombia.

Habitat

''Alfaroa costaricensis'' normally grows in cloudy areas on well-drained soils with slopes of 5% or more at elevations between 600 and 2200 m which receive 1500–2500 mm of precipitation and sustain temperatures of 15 to 20 °C. This tree does not grow well in the shade.

Description

''Alfaroa costaricensis'' is a slow growing tree with pink

heartwood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

. It can reach 27 m in height and 60 cm diameter at breast height (d.b.h.). The seed is a nut, one-chambered at the apex and eight-chambered at the base, which measures 1.6 to 2.5 cm long and 1.4 to 1.6 cm in diameter, and is protected by a hard, thick, brown

pericarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggr ...

. Germination is

hypogeal Hypogeal, hypogean, hypogeic and hypogeous (; ) are biological terms describing an organism's activity below the soil surface. In botany, a seed is described as showing hypogeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed remai ...

. The leaves are pinnately compound, and are distinguishable from other species by their heavy pubescence. The male inflorescences is a panicle, consisting of approximately ten catkins arranged alternately. The female flowers are

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

on a catkin.A picture of a female inflorescence can be found a
Alfaroa costaricensis
PlantSystematics.org. A line drawing of a branch with leaves and of female flowers can be found in . A picture of a complete tree can be found a

.

Uses

Timber

''Alfaroa costaricensis'' wood is attractive but difficult to saw and finish. It is used for furniture, posts, building lumber, and the production of charcoal.

Wildlife food

Rodents consume many nuts.

References

* Manos, P. S., and Stone, D. E., "Evolution, Phylogeny, and Systematics of the Juglandaceae", ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'', 88''(2) 2001, 231-269.

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1355912 costaricensis Trees of Guatemala Trees of Honduras Trees of Costa Rica Trees of Panama Trees of Colombia Plants described in 1927