Cecropia peltataL.

WFO wfo-0000592298 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cecropia peltata, photographed by geralg
fig. a geralg, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-07 / obs. 204462612
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Jean-Paul Boerekamps
fig. b Jean-Paul Boerekamps, CC0 1.0 / obs. 182298375
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Annika Lindqvist
fig. c Annika Lindqvist, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178970170
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. d Jake Rehage, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 156515528
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil
fig. e Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 138811203
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Juan Cruzado Cortés
fig. f Juan Cruzado Cortés, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 89138869
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Carlos Funes
fig. g Carlos Funes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 68578293
Cecropia peltata, photographed by Andrew J. Crawford
fig. h Andrew J. Crawford, CC0 1.0 / obs. 62623599

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 24 botanical countries

Regions where Cecropia peltata is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Brazil North, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBrazil NorthColombiaCosta RicaEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Netherlands AntillesVenezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Cecropia peltata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,577 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 16.2 °C 21.9 °C 24.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.0 °C 29.8 °C 34.3 °C
Annual rainfall 1,157 mm 2,040 mm 4,120 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 25 mm 144 mm 393 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,577 research-grade observations of Cecropia peltata that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 20 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Ambaiba humboldtiana (Klotzsch) Kuntze
  • Ambaiba peltata (L.) Kuntze
  • Ambaiba propinqua (Miq.) Kuntze
  • Ambaiba schiedeana (Klotzsch) Kuntze
  • Ambaiba surinamensis (Miq.) Kuntze
  • Cecropia arachnoidea Pittier
  • Cecropia argentea Vis.
  • Cecropia asperrima Pittier
  • Cecropia dielsiana Snethl.
  • Cecropia digitata var. grisea Ten. ex Miq.
  • Cecropia goodspeedii Cuatrec.
  • Cecropia hondurensis Standl.
  • Cecropia humboldtiana Klotzsch
  • Cecropia propinqua Miq.
  • Cecropia scabrifolia Aladar Richt.
  • Cecropia schiedeana Klotzsch
  • Cecropia surinamensis Miq.
  • Coilotapalus peltata Hitchc.
  • Coilotapalus peltata Britton
  • Collotapalus peltata Hitchc.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.