The common name elephant ear tree typically refers to Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Guanacaste)
An insect pest, common to Guanacaste trees of the Costa Rican Central Valley, produces spherical green galls of 1.5 cm diameter on new shoots in February and March.
•
Similar parasitism seems to occur on Guanacaste trees of the wet, southwestern lowlands (around Palmar Sur).
The province is named for the guanacaste tree, also known as the ear pod tree, which is the national tree of Costa Rica.