Meryta Denhamii of New Caledonia

The Meryta Denhamii tree (this is also its binomial scientific name) is native to the south pacific island nation of New Caledonia (east of Australia). The Meryta Denhamii has long leaves. The leaves in these images are about 2-3 feet long (75cm) and about 8-12 inches wide (25cm).
The flowers of this tree species are quite interesting and unique as you can see from the images above and below. The individual ball like flowers are about 1 inch in diameter.
I photographed two trees for this post, both of which I found in the Spanish city of Malaga. The tree below is in the "paseo del parque" gardens that run along the port. The second tree was in the Picaso gardens along the Avenida de Andalucia.

The large leaves have a thick, stiff spine that runs the lenght of the leaf that helps keep its from.
The image below is of the bark on the main trunk of the tree. Malaga has a sub-tropical climate that does not experience freezing tempuratures which is one factor that has enable this tree species to be cultivated there.

White Sapote - Casimiroa edulis

I came across this White Sapote tree (scientific name:Casimiroa edulis or zapote Blanco in Spanish). The leaves of the tree palmate with pronounced darker gree veins on the newer leaves. The leaflets were about 4-5 inches long and had smooth margins.
I believe this tree is fairly representative of a full size tree. It stood about 5-6 meters (20-25 feet) tall. I don´t think that I would have been able to identify the tree had it not been for the sign at the base that gave its identity away. According to the sign this tree is native to Southern Mexico and central America.
The fruit of the White Sapote is a "drupe" that measure about 4-6 cm in diameter with a dark green exterior until ripe.
If this tree was at all representative of its species they do not seem to produce an abundance of fruit. There may have been about 50 fruits growing on the tree.

Common Guava - Psidium guajava

The Common Guava (Psidium guajaya) is the type species for the 100 member Psidium genus. It also goes by the names Apple Guava, Brazilian Guava or often just Guava. It is an edible fruit tree that is quite common in tropical countries. The tree itself is not very large which is a rather good thing if you are like me and enjoy picking its fruits. Most of the trees that I have seen have not been more than 15-20 feet tall.

I took the pictures for this post in the "Concepción" historical-botanical garden in Malaga, Spain along what is called the "Around the World in 80 Trees" trail. My exposure to this tree however goes quite a bit farther back to when I was groing up in Papua New Guinea. These trees are not navite to PNG but have been widely planted and grow quite well.

We had a Cherry Guava tree in our yard but several of our neighboors had the Common Guava tree in theirs. When I was a kid we used to sneak through the back yards of our neighboors and grab a few of the ripe fruits on the sly. Not many of these neighboors would be too upset however as there was normally enough fruits on the trees and a good number of them would end up rotting on the ground.

I remember one day when my best friend and I found a Guava tree heavily laden with beautiful ripe fruit. We quickly plucked a few of the best looking ones off the tree. While my friend took a big bite out of one of his Guavas I broke one of mine open to check what it looked like on the inside. Mine was crawling with worms! I told my buddy to take a look at the inside of mine and his face suddenly turned a pale green color and a moment later was spitting and gaging all over the place trying to get every trace of the worm ladden Guava out of his system.
The Guavas in these pictures (from a Guava that I picked up off the ground and did not eat) did not have any worms.

Ripe Guavas have a thin yellow skin that encloses a soft peach colored "meat" that contains the seeds. The entire fruit is edible, skin, seeds and meat but often we would just eat the meat and seeds since we had not washed the outside of the fruit.

Common Screwpine - Pandanus utilis

The Common Screwpine (Pandanus utilis) is a tropical tree species native to Madagascar and contrary to what it´s name implies it is NOT a pine tree. It does not even remotely resemble a pine tree so why the name - I have no idea. At any rate it is an interesting tree species and one that is often grown as an ornamental tree in climates that permit. An alternate spelling for the common name is "Madagascar Screw-pine".

The younger trees in this species have very little branching but as they get older they develop long thin branches a sort of "Dr. Seus" look. It also reminds me a it of the Dragon tree. This tree also has a tendency to grow auxiliary "prop-roots" to help support the weight of the tree. There is a better image of these tube like roots below.

The image below is of a new flower forming at the base of the long, thin, spiny leaves.

The flower then opens up like you can see in the image below as a hanging, almost palm inflorescence-like structure.
When the new fruit starts to from it looks at first like a small (softball size) ball covered with molar-like teeth. At least this is what it looks like to me anyway.

This ball eventually grows to about the size of a volleyball or small indoor soccer-ball. The seeds of this tree fruit are edible but not very tasty. There is a similar Pandanus tree in Papua New Guinea that grows fruits that are about 2 feet long and 4-5 inches wide. Its seeds are quite a bit smaller than these and the mature fruit can be red or yellow. It is a favorite meal for the locals who boil it in water and then suck the juice off the seeds and then spit the seeds out.

The "bark" of this tree is somewhat abrasive although is wears smooth with time. The leaf margins have small thorn-like spines that can scrape and irritate the skin.

Other tropical trees...
Umbrella tree
False Aralia

Another strange looking tree is the Monkey Puzzle tree.

Monkey Puzzle tree - Araucaria araucana

The Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) is a tree native to South America. It is one of the strangest and at the same time most interesting trees that you will find. It is in the same tree family as the Norfolk Island Pine, the Cook Pine and the Bunya Pine (the araucaria genus). The pictures of this tree were taken in Portland Oregon.The images below is of a small new Monkey-puzzle tree that has begun to grow underneath a fairly large mature tree. I am not sure if this new tree is a volunteer from one of the roots or if it is from a seed.

The branches of this tree tend to break off right at the trunk after a number of years leaving only the branches towards the top of the tree still intact. When the trees are young this is not so noticeable but as the trees get on in years this habit gives the tree a marked “umbrella” shape with a tall branchless trunk leading up to a broad canopy .

I recently came accross this Monkey Puzzle tree in Portland, Oregon (near 82nd and Gleason). In recent weeks I have seen similar trees also in Northern Washington and in Vancouver BC in Canada. Unlike some of the other Araucarias this tree seems to handle freezing temps.

Like the other members of the araucaria genus this tree has rather unique leaves. The leaves grow along the full length of stems that can measure over one meter in length. The individual leaflets are simple in shape, although quite pointed , and are about 3-4cm in length. These individual leaflets stay on the stem until the whole stem turns brown and falls off the tree. Even when these stems lay on the ground the pointy leaflets still hold fast to the stem making for dangerous place to walk bare-footed.

Also posted in "Evergreen Tree Species" Blog.

False Aralia tree - Schefflera elegantissima

The observations in this post are from a number of adult “Shefflera elegantissima” trees in the city of Malaga. Most of the information that I have found on the internet related to this tree as a potted plant or indoor tree. The only thing I know about the use of this tree species as a potted plant is that the leaves are quite a bit different on young trees than they are on adult trees (see images below).

The leaves of this tree are similar to in size and shape to those of the Schefflera actinophylla (Umbrella tree) except that they have a pronounced serration and tend to be a bit darker tone of green.

The flowers of the False Aralia are large and branch off into multiple clusters of little ball like blossoms, with 5-7 in each cluster. These little green balls then turn into little black balls which I believe is the fruit. The flowers are not very sightly and tend to look more like a tangled web than anything else.

I´ve photograped a tree that I believe is about a big as this species normally grows. It was about 25-30 feet tall (7-9 meters). As you can see from the image the form of the tree has filled out into a pretty normal “tree-like” shape with a main trunk and branches. Most of the younger trees that I have seen tend to have multiple stems and very little branching.

The difference between the leaves on a young tree vs. an adult tree is that the leaves of the young tree are very slender (1/2 inch wide - 1.5-2.5 cm) while those of adult trees are wider (about 3 inches wide (10cm)).

The young trees tend to be tall slender stems with slender leaves and can be very attractive as indoor plants.

This tree is related to the Umbrella tree and the Dwarf Umbrella tree

White Bird of Paradise - Strelitzia nicolai

The White Bird of Paradise tree (also called the Giant Bird of Paradise) is like a cross between a Palm tree and a Banana tree. The resemblance to the Banana tree lies in its leaves that are very similar in shape, color and size. The resemblance to the Palm lies in the stem which is someone thiner than most palms but looks quite similar. The flower of this tree is like a giant version of the Bird of Paradise plant (from the same family) although somewhat less attractive. Check out rarepalmseeds.com for info and seeds of this pseudo palm.

The large banana like leaves spread out in two directions in a symmetrical manner that creates an attractive effect for parks and gardens.
The White Bird of Paradise tends to grow in clusters with multiple stems growing out of a single base. I´ve seen some clusters with more than a dozen stems. These stems can grow to about 30-35 feet tall (this is my own estimate based on the observation of a large cluster in the Paseo del Parque, Malaga, Spain). The image below is from the Jardines de Picaso in Malaga.

Snowflake Aralia - Trevesia palmata

I came across this rare tree in the "Paseo del Parque" gardens in downtown Malaga. It took me quite a while to identify this tree as there are very images of it on the internet.
I went back to this tree several times to get pictures of its flowers at different stages of development. The flowers hang on the underside of this small trees rather large leaves (about 40cm in diameter). The flowers form balls of small yellow and white blossoms. The ball shape is about 10cm in diameter.
The Trevesia palmata is native to South China and grows in tropical or sub-tropical climates. The trees that I found were only about 3 meters tall.
The leaves have long stems (about 75cm long) and grow of the main truck which is covered with small thorns that slowly wear off.

The image below is of the flowers and leaves after they have dried out but are still hanging on the underside of the tree.

external links...

http://www.tenthousandtrees.com/Araliaceae/Tree%20-%20Trevesia%20palmata.html

Umbrella tree - Schefflera actinophylla

The Umbrella tree is native to Papua New Guinea which gives it a special importance for me because I grew up there until the age of 19. The pictures in this post were not taken in PNG however, they were taken where I currently live, in Malaga, Spain.
It turns out that this tropical tree is widely used here as an ornamental tree for avenues and gardens. I have also seen it used commonly as an indoor tree, valued as it is for its ornate leaves.
The flowers of the is tree are quite large, spreading out about two and a half feet (60-75cm). The flower has multiple arms like the legs of a long spider that branch out in all directions. Along these arms are multiple short offshoots where a cluster of bright red balls blossom into small red and yellow blossoms. The flowers end up turning black and the arms fall form the trees.
Although this tree can grow with a single trunk (below) it is far more common to see it split into multiple trunks right from ground level. The image above is the shape that most of these trees form in maturity which makes them more valuable as ornamental trees than as shade trees.
The leaves are palmatly compound and measure about 50 cm in diameter.

External links...

http://www.tenthousandtrees.com/Tropical/Tree%20-%20Schefflera%20actinophylla.html