What the Cecropia Tree Looks Like
by Hanna E. Hope
The cecropia is a very large tree in the rain forest. The cecropia tree is an umbrella shaped tree with a hollow trunk. It has very large buttresses. Its trunk is like bamboo. The cecropia has very large silvery green, hand shaped leaves. The leaves are divided into leaflets. The leaves have velvety brown hairs. There are glands at the stem of the leaf that hold syrup for the mealy bugs. The cecropia tree can only live up to about 80 years before dying. The cecropia can grow 6 feet each year. The branches are very long. They have fruits growing off them. The fruits looks like long skinny finger like green bananas. A single cecropia can have 1,000,000 seeds that birds and bats spread for new trees.
