''Lecythis'' is a genus of
woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until sp ...
in the
Lecythidaceae
The Lecythidaceae comprise a family (biology), family of about 20 genera and 250–300 species of woody plants native to tropical South America, Africa (including Madagascar), Asia and Australia.
The most important member of the family in wor ...
family first described as a genus in 1758.
Tropicos, ''Lecythis'' Loefl.
/ref> It is native to Central America and South America.[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
/ref>
Species
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Uses
Several species produce edible seeds and referred to by a variety of common names including paradise nut, monkey pot, cream nut, and sapucaia nut. ''Lecythis zabucajo'' is perhaps the most important edible species, but the seeds of ''L. ollaria'' and ''L. pisonis'' are also used.
References
External links
A website with an exhaustive list of links about Lecythidaceae
*Kubitzki (ed.) 2004. ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Volume VI. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales.'' Springer. Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=O-tHGAaaf2cC
Ericales genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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