Guarea glabraVahl

alligatorwood

WFO wfo-0000710891 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Guarea glabra, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. a Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / 2018-07-28 / obs. 22422658
Guarea glabra, photographed by Juan Cruzado Cortés
fig. b Juan Cruzado Cortés, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 60632882
Guarea glabra, photographed by Juan Cruzado Cortés
fig. c Juan Cruzado Cortés, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 60632908
Guarea glabra, photographed by Juan Cruzado Cortés
fig. d Juan Cruzado Cortés, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 60644558
Guarea glabra, photographed by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
fig. e Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 22422666

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 28 botanical countries

Regions where Guarea glabra is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Brazil North, Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBrazil NorthCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Guarea glabra, 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
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
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.

Also published as 36 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.

  • Carapa trijuga Willd. ex C.DC.
  • Guarea arcuata Coronado
  • Guarea brevianthera C.DC.
  • Guarea chiapensis S.F.Blake
  • Guarea ciliata Al.Rodr.
  • Guarea excelsa Kunth
  • Guarea excelsa subsp. dubia S.F.Blake
  • Guarea filiformis C.DC.
  • Guarea filiformis var. cinerascens C.DC.
  • Guarea filiformis var. pallida C.DC.
  • Guarea fulva Triana & Planch.
  • Guarea fulva var. mexicana C.DC.
  • Guarea glabrescens (Hook. & Arn.) S.F.Blake
  • Guarea heterophylla S.F.Blake
  • Guarea humilis Bertero ex DC.
  • Guarea kegelii Turcz.
  • Guarea lherminieri C.DC.
  • Guarea makrinii S.F.Blake
  • Guarea microcalyx Harms
  • Guarea microcarpa C.DC.
  • Guarea obtusata S.F.Blake
  • Guarea palmeri Rose ex C.DC.
  • Guarea pauciflora Sessé & Moc.
  • Guarea petenensis Coronado

and 12 more.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.