cecropia

noun

1. A large saturniid moth native to North America, Hyalophora cecropia, having distinctive red, white and black markings on the wings
2. Any tree of the genus Cecropia.

   “Surrounded by lofty airy cassias, broad-leaved, white-stemmed cecropias, thick-crowned myrtles, large-flowered bignonias, climbing tufts of the mellifluous paullinias, far-spreading tendrils of the passion-flower, and of the richly flowering hatched coronilla, above which rise the waving summits of Macaubu palms, we fancied ourselves transported into the gardens of the Hesperides.”

   “The chief characteristic of the Amazonian forest, aside from its magnitude, is the great diversity of genera and species. In the northern temperate zone we find forests of a single species, others of three or four species; in this great tropical forest the habit of growth is solitary and an acre of ground will contain hundreds of species—palms, myrtles, acacias, mimosas, cecropias, euphorbias, malvaceas, laurels, cedrellas, bignonias, bombaceas, apocyneas, malpigias, lecythises, swartzias, &c.”

   “Also called the trumpet tree, cecropias are popular with many animal species for their leaves and fingerlike catkins, which turn to fruits.”

name

1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of Kekropia.