Green Macaws eating from Almendro de Montaña

DIPTERYX PANAMENSIS
Common name: Almond tree, mountain almond tree Species code: E079
Classification: Plants / Trees / Emerging trees
Taxonomy: Plantae / Spermatophyta / Magnoliopsida / Fabales / FABACEAE
Origin: Native Ame Tropics. Way of life: Terrestrial
Uses: Support for bird life, Featured species, Food for wildlife, Restoration, Timber, Culinary uses

Tree up to 60 m high, emerging from the canopy, of humid forests with precipitation greater than 3,500 mm per year; It grows especially in plains with alluvial, sandy soils and sometimes on clay-loam and acidic soils (Flores 1992). Its regeneration is more frequent in areas with sunlight. The fruits are associated with about 60 species of birds, mammals and insects, including primates, parrots, limpets, toucans, orioles and bats (Flores 1992, Bonaccorso et al. 1980). Jiménez, Q. et al. (2011, p. 127)

It is distributed from Nicaragua to Colombia. In Costa Rica in the Plains of Guatusos, San Carlos, Tortuguero and Baja Talamanca, at elevations from 0 to 200 m. An oil used to make soaps, and for the treatment of hair and stomach conditions, is extracted from the mesocarp of the fruit; the roasted seeds are edible; With the raw seeds, the inhabitants of the Nicaraguan Caribbean make a paste reputed to be an aphrodisiac, mixing them with water or coconut milk (2).

References:
(1) Jiménez, Q.; Rojas, F.; Rojas, V.; Rodríguez, L. 2011. Timber trees of Costa Rica. Ecology and forestry. 2 ed. Santo Domingo de Heredia, C.R., INBio Editorial.

(2) Digital florula. La Selva Biological Station. Species Pages: Dipteryx panamensis. https://sura.ots.ac.cr/local/florula4/fl/find_sp.php?key_species_code=LS…. Visited on December 18, 2018.

(3)Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. http://www.tropicos.org/Name/13000486. Visited on December 18, 2018.