Mothers trees in Mallorca
It’s been 5 years since my mother passed on, but I am currently keeping my promise to her. When she was travelling through Spain and her most favorite place to visit was Mallorca . She told me it was the trees that captured her heart the most. She made me promise to travel to Mallorca and make a study, (botanical drawings) of her two most favorite trees. the Yew and the Linden .
I’m a little late, but at least I am honoring her request. I booked a week at one of the 5 Star Hotels Mallorca offers thinking this would give me enough time to render drawings of her two most beloved trees. In order to do draw a true study, rendering I needed to do some research. The Yew, I found out is a perennial tree. It has needle-like leaves, and is very hardy. It’s only found in the high mountains of Mallorca where it’s cooler. I notice that most of the Yews I found were young trees, maybe 16 years old at the most. When I asked some locals, they told me that I could find a very only Yew in La Granja, Esporles , which they told me is around 2 thousand years old. Upon some more research, the Yew a dioecius tree: a single sex species. The female tree will produce red berries, which are not edible and especially not pleasant. The male tree produces no fruit. The tree is sometimes harvested for its taxine and wood. The taxine because of its alkaloid poison which is being studied as a useful pharmaceutical and the wood for cabinetry.
The Linden is a lime tree, and is well over a hundred years old. Mostly found in Gardens and not in the wild. In the winter is loses it’s leaves and in the summer it produces flowers used by the locals to make a splendid herbal tea as a remedy for a nervous condition or for people with insomnia. The Linden, even without its leaves looks majestic, it’s immense size alone conjures one to be at peace and serene. I can see why my mother fell in love with both trees. I have fallen in love with them also. My mother was right.
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