Treasured Trees

In a past post, I explained the reason for using Snow Globes in the title of my blog. For those who are curious, here’s the reason for Tree Ferns:

Official Trees

Every region seems to have an official tree. The state of Washington opted for the western hemlock, a large evergreen coniferous tree; and the city of Spokane, the ponderosa pine. The oak recently became the national tree of the United States, sharing that status with a number of other countries, including England, Germany, and Jordan. The official tree of Puerto Rico, where I lived for many years, is the ceiba, a large tropical specimen with sprawling buttress roots. Chile’s official favorite is Araucaria araucana, the monkey-puzzle tree, an evergreen that, when advanced in age, looks like a squat Christmas tree set atop a long pole (more about it in a future post).

My Personal Favorite

Then there are the personal preferences. Though the ceiba is a worthy choice as Puerto Rico’s official tree, the specimen that most reminds me of the island and strikes a great longing in my heart whenever I see one … well, it actually isn’t a tree at all. Called a tree fern, it’s a member of the fern family, but, because of ideal growing conditions in the tropics (I’d like to think), it can reach up to ten meters (33 feet), a parasol-like silhouette of slender trunk stems and delicate arcing fronds. Common in El Yunque rain forest, it became the title of my first (unpublished) novel, The Irony of Tree Ferns, and shares the name of this blog.

Tree fern, El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico