Wood Species Guide

Parota

Enterolobium cyclocarpum

Also called: Guanacaste, Huanacaxtle, Elephant Ear Tree, Earpod Tree, Conacaste, Corotú, Pich, Tubroos

Parota, also called Guanacaste, grows into giant trees that give us some of the widest single-piece slabs you can buy. It is light, warm-toned and dramatic, with a creamy sapwood border and chocolate heartwood.
ImportHardwoodTropical Slab Woods
Good forTabletops & SlabsRiver TablesOutdoor & Rot-Resistant

What Parota looks like

Heartwood ranges from light golden brown to a rich chocolate brown, sometimes with darker streaks and reddish tones. The wide sapwood is a pale yellow-cream, so many slabs show a bold two-tone contrast from edge to center.

Grain and texture

Grain is straight to interlocked with a coarse, open texture. The pores are large and easy to see, which gives a finished slab a soft, fibrous shimmer as the light moves.

Working Parota: planing, cutting and gluing

Light and soft, so it cuts and carries easily. Planing is where it fights back: interlocked grain tears out and the surface can come off fuzzy, so use a sharp spiral cutterhead or flatten with a CNC and finish with a random-orbit sander. It glues well. Being soft, it dents more easily than most table woods.

Finishing Parota: oil, film finishes and epoxy

The open pores soak up a lot of finish. Plan on a sealer coat or extra coats of oil before you get an even sheen. For epoxy, always seal the slab first; parota is one of the woods most likely to release bubbles into a deep pour. Grain filling gives a glassier top if you want one.

Durability, stability and Florida humidity

Heartwood is durable against rot, which is why it has a long history in boats. Low density helps it move less than you might expect, but wide slabs still need care in Florida: let them acclimate in AC, finish both faces equally and use a base that lets the top move.

Shop notes from our Fort Myers shop

Parota is the big-slab king. The trees are huge, so this is where we find the wide, single-piece dining and conference tops that are hard to get in any other species, and they weigh far less than you'd guess. We flatten them on the CNC, then fill checks and soft spots with epoxy before finishing. Because it is soft, we steer kitchen-table customers toward a hard finish like a quality polyurethane or a full epoxy flood coat. Some people sneeze around fresh parota dust, so we run the collector hard on these.

Common uses for Parota

Dining and conference table slabs, river tables, furniture, boatbuilding, millwork, turnings and bowls.

Sustainability and CITES status

Not listed in the CITES Appendices and not considered threatened. It is a common pasture and shade tree in Central America.

Safety and toxicity

Our toxicity rating ModerateWhat the ratings mean
  • Respiratory / asthma
  • Eye irritation
  • Skin irritation

Parota dust often makes people sneeze and can irritate eyes, nose and airways, sometimes strongly. Some workers also get skin rashes from the sawdust.

In the shop
Dust collection + good respirator + eye protection when sanding
Food contact
Not recommended for cutting boards, bowls and utensils

General information, not medical advice. See a doctor if you have a reaction.

Parota dust is known to irritate eyes, nose and airways in some people, sometimes strongly. Wear a good respirator and use dust collection when sanding.

Wood toxicity and dust safety guide: every species compared

Parota in stock now

Live edge slabs in stock (14)

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Similar woods: Tropical Slab Woods

See the Tropical Slab Woods group guide

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