Elephant's Ear Tree, Eartree, Guanacaste Tree, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, is easily grown from seed offered by the GreenDealer Selection of Tropical Rainforest Plants, Trees, and Tropical Houseplants.

Ear Tree, Elephant's Ear Tree, Arbol de Guanacaste Enterolobium cyclocarpum

This tree is named (in English) not because the delicate mimosa-like, feathery leaves resemble elephant's ears, but because the seed pods resemble ears, as shown in the photograph directly above.

Eartree, Ear Tree, Elephant's Ear Tree, Guanacaste, is an utterly magnificent wide-canopied tree and is a member of the Mimosa Family. Pretty cream-colored flowers produced in massive heads are followed by the curious-looking ear-shaped fruit pods which are used for cattle feed.

It is named "Guanacaste" in Spanish, after the province of Guanacaste in north-western Costa Rica where it is a "state tree." This is the driest and hottest region of Costa Rica and is a climate suited to this magnificant tree.

Guanacaste, or Elephant's Ear Tree, is winter hardy in zones 10 - 11 but can be grown in a container indoors in cold climate zones.

The specimen shown above was photographed in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, in June of 1999.