Flora

Parks and gardens in Montevideo are full of flowering trees and shrubs that add maximum colour and drama to horticultural displays year-round.  I've just learned the names for some of the extraordinary varieties that thrive in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, the ones I had never encountered in colder zones.

Floss Silk Tree (Palo Barracho, Chorisia speciosa)

This pink beauty is in full bloom in Montevideo right now, a tall tree covered with clusters of five-petaled flowers that are similar in colour to Stargazer lilies.

The Floss Silk tree  is called "Palo Barracho" (drunken stick) in Spanish.  Its bark is traditionally used in cooking the hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca, a drug linked to rituals conducted by shamanistic tribes in the Amazon.  The trunk of this tree is studded with sharp thorns, making climbing a painful, if not impossible operation.  Each thorn acts as a water reservoir, to help the tree survive through times of drought.  

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The national plant of Uruguay is the Ceibo, a small tree covered with red flowers, also called "Cockspur Coral."   This tree represents the soul of Princess Anahi, who was burned at the stake by Spanish conquistadors, according to a native Guarani legend.

Ceibo tree (Erythrina crista-galli) Uruguay's national plant

The crimson coloured flowers of the tree are hermaphrodite, and attract hummingbirds for pollination.  Ceibo wood is light and porous, and is used for constructing beehives, model airplanes and rafts.

Planted as a hedge or border, the sky-blue Cape Leadwort or Plumbago attracts butterflies to the garden.  This plant is a native of South Africa that migrated to this side of the Atlantic during the 18th century, a stowaway aboard the Dutch East Indies ships that carried slaves to South America.  In native African culture, Plumbago is used as a poultice to treat warts, as an emetic to dispel bad dreams and as snuff for relieving headaches.  A branch placed in the thatch of a hut is believed to protect the home from lightning.

Cape Leadwort (Plumbago auriculata)

The sticky flowers are used by children to make blue "earrings"

A beautiful umbrella-shaped shade tree at the corner of 21 de Setiembre in Parque Rodo is a mature example of Golden Shower Tree or Yellow canafistula. The leaves and bark of this tree are used in Ayurvedic medicine as an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer treatment.  

Golden Shower tree, Yellow Canafistula (Cassia fistula)

The central location of my favourite Canafistula  makes it vulnerable to the abuse of lovers who can't resist carving their names into its sturdy trunk.  I have a feeling the tree will survive for many more years, defying the damage and outlasting the romances recorded on its bark.