Guanacaste tree

Left: This tree is big enough to shelter a village.

For the people of Costa Rica, the guanacaste has cultural significance as well as practical use. It symbolizes equilibrium, renewal, faith and stability, and suggests both the transience of human life and sacred spiritual consciousness. The national tree is also a source of water-resistant wood, animal fodder, ersatz soap and medicines. Macaws, mice, parrots, howler monkeys and various insects call it home.

Right: The "monkey ear" seed pods are used to make maracas and beads. 

A member of the legume family, the enterolobium cyclocarpum also grows amazingly fast. The tree below, which provides shade for the deck of a small restaurant,  is only about sixty years old. The trunk of the guanacaste reaches six to ten feet in width. The rounded canopy is wider than the tree is high.The name, from the Aztec language Nahuatl, means ear tree, and is also the name of the province of Costa Rica where the tree thrives.