Mexican sterculia

This tree, with its well-developed buttress roots, can grow to nearly 40 m tall and over 1 m across.

It has wide, alternate, compound leaves, with 7 to 9 oblong-lance shaped leaflets 15 to 30 cm long. New leaves are red and soft.

The pink flowers are petal-less and are grouped in very dense axillary panicles.

Its fruit is a capsule that opens at maturity, and bears irritating hairs called trichomes.