Sunday, July 29, 2007

Looking for a name

It was a question of time before I had to create a new label, this one "unidentified trees." When we deal with tropical biodiversity, it's inevitable that we'll beat our heads against the wall looking for some name to identify an unknown tree species. I only need to walk out the door of the Bosque Santa Lucia reception center to encounter a number of trees which I've never been able to identify, by common name or by scientific nomenclature. Just as an example, on the very short trail between the center and the dirt road going to Poco Branco, we encounter pods and seeds shown in the attached image. To be frank about it, they are quite distinctive looking and I thought some local person could clue me in with at least a common name. No way. I asked anybody and everybody that came to see me and nobody could help. I got my hopes up one day when a neighbor down the road told me that he knew the name but couldn't remember it. The next day he was back with the name, "pajucara", he said. All right! Now I had a lead that might take me down the road for a google search. Next image, the tree.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

(FLACOURTIACEAE) Lindackeria

Frequently confused with Sloanea.