About Cariniana legalis (Mart.) Kuntze
Cariniana legalis (Mart.) Kuntze is a species of emergent rainforest tree in the Monkeypot family, Lecythidaceae. It is native to the Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil, where it is called jequitibá-branco or jequitibá-rosa, and may also occur in Colombia and Venezuela. These trees can grow to be very large. A specimen of C. legalis measured by botanical explorer David Fairchild had a circumference of 62 feet (19 meters), with no buttresses, at a height of six feet (two meters) above ground. It is classified as one of the largest tree species found in the Atlantic Forest. A number of very old individuals of this species grow in Santa Rita do Passa Quatro and near Petrópolis, Brazil, and one of these trees is over 3,000 years old. The species is currently threatened by habitat loss.
