MBC was recently host to a botanical record holder, the giant seed of the tree Mora oleifera. This remarkable tree is a semi-mangrove from the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. It is a member of the bean family, Fabaceae, and has never before been cultivated in the United States. MBC collaborator Richard Moyroud, a plant conservationist and ecologist in West Palm Beach, coordinated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and MBC to obtain several M. oleifera seeds for enrichment of US botanical collections. A group of botanists from neighboring institutions, Drs. Barry Tomlinson, Jack Fisher, Dennis Stevenson and Jay Horn visited MBC to see this botanical wonder for the first time. Since MBC already has the palm that produces the world’s largest seed, the double coconut, Lodoicea maldivica, and largest-leafed fig, Ficus dammaropsis, adding the largest dicot seed is a fitting way to expand our collection of botanical superlatives!
For more information and photos of Mora oleifera, see the link below:
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/Edge/oct08/oct08pick.shtml