Dendrological library

Illustration of an emergent almendro struck by lightning above a tropical canopy.

Mountain almond · Canopy ecology

The almendro and lightning: how a storm can favour a giant

Electrical resistance, competition from lianas and the importance of old almendros for the great green macaw.

Illustration of a bat approaching pale ceiba flowers at night.

Ceiba · Pollination

The ceiba after sunset: a forest connected by bats

Night-opening flowers, pollen crossing the landscape and wind-borne seeds: ceiba reproduction in Costa Rica.

Illustration of an opened mahogany capsule, winged seeds and a seedling in leaf litter.

Mahogany · Regeneration and diversity

Mahogany before it becomes timber

Winged seeds, light and a small shoot borer: the story of Swietenia macrophylla begins long before a harvestable trunk.

Illustration of a pale-trunked eucalyptus plantation on a humid tropical hillside.

Eucalyptus · Landscape and water

A eucalyptus stand is not a forest

Eucalyptus grandis invites a careful reading of plantations: origins, management and water matter as much as tree height.

Conceptual illustration of an open ceiba fruit, kapok fibers and a canvas life jacket.

Ceiba · Material history

Before synthetic foam, there was the ceiba

Fiber from its fruits kept aircrews and sailors afloat long before synthetic foams came to dominate life jackets.

Conceptual illustration of a yellow cortez in bloom in a leafless dry forest, with fallen flowers on the ground.

Yellow cortez · Phenology

Five golden days: the yellow cortez and the dry-forest clock

It spends months without leaves, waiting for a signal. When the signal comes, it blooms within days, and each flower lasts only one.

Conceptual illustration: a guanacaste pod in a dry pasture casts the shadow of a gomphothere, an extinct relative of elephants.

Guanacaste · Seed dispersal

The pods that were waiting for an extinct giant

The curled fruit of Costa Rica's national tree seems made for animals that vanished thousands of years ago. Today, horses and cattle fill only part of that gap.

Conceptual illustration: a green leaf with silver, aluminium-like veins beside a mound of red clay and three yellow flowers on dark slate.

Chancho blanco · Soils and restoration

The chancho blanco and aluminium: a tree made for worn-out soils

Its leaves hold more aluminium than almost any other plant could tolerate. That chemical oddity has made it an ally for reforesting the acid soils of Costa Rica's Caribbean lowlands and northern zone.

Conceptual illustration: at night in the forest canopy, a bat flies away with a seed wrapped in a white aril, next to an open woody monkey pot fruit hanging from a branch.

Olla de mono · Fruits and dispersal

The monkey pot: a lidded fruit and a feast for bats

It takes almost a year to ripen, opens like an uncovered pot and offers its seeds to the animals of the night. This is how a threatened giant of northern Caribbean Costa Rica reproduces.

Conceptual illustration: a black carpenter bee pushes open the curved hood of a lilac monkey pot flower, raising a cloud of golden pollen beside a cluster of buds.

Olla de mono · Pollination

A hooded flower: the monkey pot's pollen chest

Its lilac flowers hide the stamens under a curved lid that only large bees can push open. Inside, a pollen waits that exists to be eaten.

Conceptual illustration of a bromeliad growing on the damp trunk of a tropical tree.

General article · Canopy ecology

A forest within a tree

On a branch or halfway up a trunk, another landscape can begin: the world of epiphytes.

Conceptual illustration of a tropical tree beside a field notebook and a leafy branch.

General article · Tree identification

One photograph is not enough: the story behind a tree’s name

Naming a tree means gathering clues, acknowledging limits and leaving room for correction.

Conceptual illustration of a fallen log with fungi, moss and seedlings in a tropical forest.

General article · Decomposition and biodiversity

When a tree falls, the forest continues

Fallen wood is not the end of a tree: it is the beginning of other ways to inhabit a forest.

Conceptual illustration of crimson Malay apple flowers and fruit on a mature branch.

Malay apple · Botany and food

Malay apple: a flower born from old wood

Its flowers emerge from mature branches; its fruits tell a story of travel, human selection, and chemistry concentrated in the skin.

Conceptual illustration of ojoche fruit and seeds beside milled flour in a tropical forest setting.

Juvenile breadnut · Forest and food

Ojoche: the seed that holds a food memory

From Maya home gardens to flour today, ojoche shows that food security can also grow on a living tree.

Conceptual illustration of a Spanish cedar woody capsule releasing winged seeds.

Juvenile Spanish cedar · Growth and conservation

Spanish cedar: a tree’s future begins in a bud

A tiny moth can change the architecture of a young cedar; an open capsule gives the wind dozens of possibilities.