There are things that are called trees besides those living, breathing plants we have around us. A family tree, for example, is called a “tree” because from one individual, it spreads out in several branches. I have an earring tree! On its branches I hang my many pairs of earrings. This “tree” is rather gnarly and has knots in its branches so the earrings don’t fall off. So for Becky’s challenge TreeSquare, I am featuring my earring tree!
This tree is called “paper maple” because its bark is thin like paper. This tree at Morton Arboretum is my contribution for Becky’s July #TreeSquares.
These tree photos were all taken at Chicago Botanic Gardens or Morton Arboretum. I found these trees to be amazing or astonishing, due to their shape or special characteristics. My contribution today for Becky’s July Squares: Trees.
For Becky’s July #TreeSquares challenge, I continue featuring trees in Tanzania, with things hanging from their branches.
I don’t know, or don’t remember (if I was told at the time) the name of this tree, but was fascinated by the strange pods or fruits hanging from it.
On the other hand, we saw many acacia trees with these tightly woven birds’ nests hanging from them.
These nests are made by the male weaver. He attracts a mate by having woven the best nest in the neighborhood!
When the weavers’ nests are abandoned, they hang bedraggled from the tree.
Trees harbor homes for many animals. Treetops are also a place just to hang out.
Today I feature animals in (or on or next to) trees in Tanzania for Becky’s July Squares: Trees.
Tanzania 2018: Ficus trunk. This is for Becky’s July Squares featuring trees. Ficus trees are interesting and adaptable. Their trunks are often split and twisted. They can even appear to be growing out of a rock, such in the second photo, where a ficus tree is emerging from a kopje.
Tanzania 2018: This is the first of several tree shots I took while on safari. I’m glad to be sharing them for Becky’s July TreeSquare challenge because in the past I have mostly posted photos I took of animals (but they’ll be in some of these photos too!).
These “hanging” trees were for sale in a Curitiba mall. Christmas trees, perhaps? I took this photo in mid-November; in Brazil, Christmas is celebrated in the summer, so some of its wintery themes that are copied by Brazilians are rather incongruous, but these little pines will surely thrive in Curitiba’s climate.
Head over to Becky’s July #Tree Square challenge and see more trees!
A quote that another blogger posted about trees prompted me to create this post as my contribution to the 9th day of Becky’s July Squares, with the topic of trees.
The author of this quote, Jaime Lerner, is a Brazilian who in the early 1970s was the mayor of the city of Curitiba, the capital of Paraná, a state in southern Brazil. Anyone who has been to Curitiba will recognize how appropriate this quote is for his city and his impact as urban planner and mayor. Between my first visit in 1971 and my last, five years ago, the city has not only grown to over 1 million inhabitants but also contains a number of beautiful parks, including several dedicated to ethnic groups in the city, a pedestrian area in downtown, and a comprehensive system of rapid transit buses (BRT), among many other innovations which began during Jaime Lerner’s tenure as mayor.
I hold Curitiba in my heart as my favorite city in Brazil, and one of its attractions that I am particularly fond of is a tree native to southern Brazil, araucaria angustifolia, better known as o pinheiro do Parana’ although it is not actually a pine. It belongs to the conifer family. I had never seen a tree like it before; it is so unique and is found only in southern Brazil and some parts of northern Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. All over Curitiba are these wonderful trees, which I feature in square photos below.
The Wikipedia article about this araucaria species says that it is critically endangered, having lost 97% of its habitat to logging and agriculture.
The species is spread via its seeds, called the pinhão, by Parana’s state bird, the azure jay, and other animals.
The article also says that this tree is dioecious – some are male and some are female. The male produces an oblong cone (the photo below shows how they look when they are dried up). The female’s cones are spherical and quite large, and inside are the pinhão seeds (100-150 per cone), which are about 2 inches long and taste sort of like pine nuts or chestnuts.
The shell of the pinhão is also used to make small crafts.
I took this photo long ago at a school where I used to work. It was a foggy day and the trees in the fog looked as if standing sentinel for the playground behind.
Head over to Becky’s SquareTree month for more tree inspirations!
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