  We investigate three-boson recombination of equal mass systems as function of
(negative) scattering length, mass, finite energy, and finite temperature. An
optical model with an imaginary potential at short distance reproduces
experimental recombination data and allows us to provide a simple
parametrization of the recombination rate as function of scattering length and
energy. Using the two-body van der Waals length as unit we find that the
imaginary potential range and also the potential depth agree to within thirty
percent for Lithium and Cesium atoms. As opposed to recent studies suggesting
universality of the threshold for bound state formation, our results suggest
that the recombination process itself could have universal features.
