Last Word On The Tree

Sunday I received a nice email from Alan, explaining how the Silver Buttonwood Mangrove was selected for planting.

He said  "the project was suggested and organized by Judy Yablonski and she selected the Silver Buttonwood from my Nursery as being the most suitable tree to plant near the sea."

Alan also included a photo (below) of a mature Buttonwood. The project tree came from his garden. He said it's also used in Florida for hedges and as a freeway divider.

Silver Buttonwood Mangrove - Courtesy of Alan Colton

If it's looked after (read watered) and allowed to grow it should add some beauty as well as some much needed shade to that area of the waterfront.

Alan also said he has around 200 small Buttonwoods suitable for hedges as well as several larger trees, all for sale. He has a list of plants available for sale that I'm sure he'd be glad to send to you if you email him at: thecoltons [at] btl [dot] net.

He also recommends Dave's Garden at: http://davesgarden.com for anything regarding tropical plants. It's supposed to have the largest tropical plant database in the world.

Even with all this, I still think I would have preferred to see a Corozo palm put back in the planter. But, if this survives, it will become a nice looking addition to the Corozal waterfront.

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Here's a late entry for this posting. This afternoon (Tuesday, May 4, 2010), I got an email from Judy, who spearheaded the tree project. She was kind enough to allow me to re-print it here. I think it goes a long way to clarify how and why the Buttonwood was selected over the Corozo.

"I too would have preferred to see a Corozo tree in the planter because it has a good story.  When I talked with guys from Ag and Forestry they told me the reason the tree did not and will not survive there is because 1) it is not salt tolerant and 2) it has deep roots that need soil not rock.  There is about 5 feet of soil at the planter and then it hits rocks which the Mangrove will work through to get water it needs.  They said that is one of the reasons we do not see many Corozo trees in Corozal any more. They gave me three suggestions and I thought the Mangrove was the prettiest of the choices and was lucky enough to be able to find the Silver Buttonwood."

So, now you know the rest of the story... Well not quite all.

For the past couple of days while we're on our morning walkies, Doug, Twyla and I have been discussing whether Corozal was named after the Cohune Palm or the Corozo Palm.

They had looked up 'Cohune' on several websites and found no reference to the Corozo palm. They found information which led them to believe Corozal was named after the Cohune, including a plaque or picture in the Town Hall that talks about Corozal being named after the Cohune.

I had also looked up 'Corozo' on several sites and found no reference to 'Cohune'. Well, round and round we went about whether it was a Cohune or a Corozo (apparently it doesn't take much to get us whipped into a frenzy). I think we had pretty much decided that we were in fact talking about two separate species of palm here, when they found a citation that seems to consolidate the two names as, in fact, being the same tree.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
Corporate Document Repository
(http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5043e/x5043E06.htm#Cohune%20palm)

The citation also said that the Cohune/Corozo Palm oil is similar to coconut oil. The refined oil can used in the production of margarine and for baking.

So, there you have it. One of the greatest debates of our time, settled. Sort of. Doug and Twyla will probably continue calling it a Cohune Palm and I'll most likely continue calling it a Corozo Palm.

Ain't it nice when something comes together like that? We can shake hands and still do it our own way. The best of all worlds.