Flowers to See and Experience in the FLAAR Ethnobotanical Research Garden Flowering in September and October

This flower of the Pachira aquatica tree is one of the 10 most beautiful flowers of a tree of Guatemala. This flower (and that of Pseudobombax ellipticum) are models for the "fleur de lis" on Late Classic Maya vase and bowls and plates. Pachira aquatica is capable of growing anywhere that has lots of sun and no winter cold. The seeds of Pachira aquatica are used to make cacao if you don't have any seeds of Theobroma cacao--or can be added together with Theobroma cacao if you have those seeds also.