Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_enterolobium_cyclocarpum
Guanacaste
Enterolobium cyclocarpum
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About Guanacaste
Guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to Mexico through tropical South America in lowland tropical forest, savanna, and seasonally dry woodland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting in 1940; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 7,901 plants under Enterolobium cyclocarpum across 8 entries dated 1926–1935. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Enterolobium cyclocarpum
- Common names
- Guanacaste · Elephant-ear tree · Earpod tree
- Other names
- Enterolobium cyclocarpum · Guanacaste · Elephant-ear tree · Earpod tree
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current survival on Kauaʻi, number of trees, occupied habitat, flowering or fruiting, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects are all unconfirmed; no naturalization or invasive severity is inferred from the historical planting record.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Small stamen-rich flowers require pollination and mature into thick curved ear-shaped pods containing hard seeds in dry pulp. Kauaʻi flowering, pollination, pod production, seed dispersal, viability and recruitment remain unconfirmed.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Large deciduous tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to Mexico through tropical South America in lowland tropical forest, savanna, and seasonally dry woodland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting in 1940; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.