Here’s the mature Cuipo tree, on the ground. One of the big emergent canopy trees, it’s closely related to the giant Ceiba. Not really a buttressed tree, but has its toes dug into the thin Barro Colorado soil. It looks and sounds like a water tank. Give it a knock with your knuckles and hear it slosh a little. There is a grove on the island of differently sized and aged cuipos, and they are each tuned to a different note, like keys on a marimba. Pencil on Robert Bateman sketchbook, 8 1/2″ x 11″
Cavenillesia platanifolia, a.k.a. Cuipo Tree seedling. Huge winged jelly-filled fruits germinate on the forest floor into big-leafed seedlings which in turn, grow into enormous water-filled trees that ring like gongs when you knock on their sides.
Drawing The Motmot 