On the way to Biolley in the mountains of Costa Rica, my colleague, botanist Judy Stone, pointed out this magnificent specimen of Bursera simaruba, also known locally as indio desnudo, or the “nude Indian” tree. The name certainly derives from its reddish bark and the fact that it’s semi-deciduous, shedding its leaves completely before producing new ones.
The tree is found throughout tropical America, including the southeastern U.S., where it’s called the “gumbo-limbo tree”.
This specimen is nearly in the desnudo stage. Click to enlarge.
The tree has important medicinal uses for the locals, and is used to treat skin problems, digestive disorders, and infections.
I won’t often post single pictures from my trip to Costa Rica (I plan on doing posts with multiple photos), but this magnificent tree didn’t fit in anywhere.
Well it is really a gorgeous photo – the azure sky, the nude tree – is is leafless or does the name indicate the sparse nature of the foliage?
They have dense foliage during the summer rainy season.
Cool tree and all, but important source of medicinals? Maybe, but the link to a naturoquack’s website was a bit disturbing to find on WEIT!
Yeah, that tripped the alarm for me too.
In south Florida, the gumbo-limbo is also called the “tourist tree” because of its red, peeling bark.
Desnudo – Tree Of Death.
v0.1 comes with regrowth.
Beautiful picture. In the Caribbean it is also called the tourist tree, because it is red and peeling, and the turpentine tree, because of the smell of the sap.
I just came across this article on yeast evolving to become a multi celled species.I am not sure where to post this, but sometimes you just have to share a wow moment.(Well, wow to me, anyway!)
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/evolution-of-multicellularity/
I don’t know about any medicinal value of Bursera, but this species has one very important economic use in Mexico and Central America — limbs and trunk sections are used as fence posts.
Cut sections stuck into the ground readily root and form a new tree, wherever you want it. By nailing on barbed wire you get a quick, inexpensive and “permanent” barbed wire fence. This saves buying metal posts and prevents a serious problem with posts made from dead wood — termites eating them. Many roads are lined with these trees holding up the wire that forms the edges of pastures.
Beautiful shot of one of my favorite tree species. The red, peeling bark stage may be reminiscent of gringo tourists, but when that layer is gone in large expanses, the underlying, shiny, grayish trunk definitely evokes an expanse of naked, muscular flesh! 😀
See, for instance:
http://www.costaricaphotos.com/Nature/plants/idesnudotree/IMG_0062.JPG.html