This article is about the tropical plant. It is also an old name for the Acropolis, Athens. In North America, the moth species Hyalophora cecropia is known as a "Cecropia Moth".

Cecropia is a genus of about 25 species of trees in the nettle family Urticaceae. They are native to tropical South and Central America, where they form one of the most recognisable components of the rainforest, easily identified by their large, circular palmately lobed leaves about 30-40 cm diameter, deeply divided into 7-11 lobes.

In the past they were commonly classified in their own family the Cecropiaceae or in the mulberry family Moraceae, but recent genetic evidence carried out by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has shown they are within the Urticaceae.

Cecropia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Hypercompe icasia.

The genus is named after King Cecrops I, first King of Athens.

References

• Cecropia spp. (Raintree Nutrition - Tropical Plant Database)

Rosales | Trees

Cecropia | Cecropia | Cecropia (botanica) | Embaúba