This is a Gumbo Limbo Tree. We call them the "Tourist Tree'. They are another of our trees that are located all over the island, and provide much needed shade.
Heres a smaller one. They grow very easily, and the resin in the not too distant past was used for treatment of gout, and the leaves were used to brew a medicinal tea to treat everything from backache to fevers. This one is at my job, and although it was looking really poorly due to white flies, it's doing just great now. They are Hurricane resistant as well as being beautiful, and in my researching (or snooping) - I found out it is the traditional wood used for manufacture of carousel horses in the United States! I guess you could say that is a "modern" carousel horse parked next to it...
These are close ups of the branches....
Which explains why................
We call them the Tourist Tree, because they peel just like a sunburned tourist! So when you come to Key West to visit, and see one of our Gumbo Limbos, it's a perfect reminder to put on your SUNSCREEN! Unless you are like me, and you are perfectly happy to stay underneath it..........
XO
Smiles,
Toni
XO
Smiles,
Toni
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