(Pachira quinata)
Pachira quinata, commonly known as pochote, is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It inhabits dry forests in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras Panama, Venezuela, and Colombia. Pochotes bear large, stubby thorns on their trunk and branches and are often planted as living fenceposts with barbed wire strung between them. These thorns are also often used to make small house-like sculptures that are believed to bring protection to someone's house since the pochote is believed to be sacred. The tree is largely plantation grown in Costa Rica for its lumber, which is an ideal, remarkably stable hardwood similar in working properties to Cedrela odorata (Spanish cedar). It is one of the most affordable woods in Costa Rica, and is used in furniture, guitar marking, and other fine woodcrafts. Pachira is a genus of tropical trees distributed in Central and South America, Africa and India. They are classified in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the family Malvaceae. Previously the genus was assigned to Bombacaceae. Prior to that the genus was found in the (now obsolete) Sterculiaceae. Some 77 species have been identified. They form small or large trees with digitate leaves, and the fruit an oval woody one-celled capsule opening by a number of divisions and containing many seeds. The genus name is derived from a language spoken in Guyana. Although first named Pachira by Jean Baptiste Aublet in 1775, Carl Linnaeus the Younger unaware of this separately is said to have called the genus Carolinea after Princess (or Marchioness) "Sophia Caroline of Baden" in 1782. The principle of precedence gives the authority to Pachira. The Margrave of Baden, Karl Wilhelm (1709 – 1738) founded the Karlsruhe Palace (Karlsruher Schloß) in 1715. He had a considerable interest in Botany, particularly the exotic, and had large numbers of trees imported for the Palace Gardens (Schloßgarten). He was succeeded by his Grandson, Karl Friedrich (1738 - 1811) who married Princess Karoline Luise von Hessen-Darmstadt (1723 - 1783) in 1751. Karoline Luise was a noted botanist. She corresponded with Carl von Linné (Linnaeus), cultivated numerous plants in the palace gardens, had engravings of them made for a book and had them all classified according to Linnaeus' system. Linnaeus' son, Carl Linnaeus the younger, recognised her contributions by naming one of the trees, Pachira aquatica (German: Glückskastanie) Carolinea princeps after her.