Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Cecropia peltata - Cecropia

Edible portion: Seeds - oil.
A tree. The trunk is bottle shaped. It has thick cone shaped prickles. The young trees have a green trunk. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves are made up of 5-7 long leaflets. The flowers are creamy white and pink towards the tip of the petals. There are 5 petals. The fruit are woody pods 20 cm long. The seeds are black and bean sized. They have fibrous silk or cotton around them.
It is a tropical plant. It can resist drought. It can tolerate some cold. In Argentina it grows below 700 m above sea level.