TREE HUGGER CORNER
Ceiba Tree
The Ceiba Tree (pronounced “SAY-ba”) is a majestic tropical tree whose giant limbs and umbrella-shaped crown are filled with aerialplants and assorted species of animals. The best known species of the tree is the Kapok or Ceiba pentandra. Birds feed and nest in the tree’s high perches, mammals use the enormous limbs as aerial highways, frogs raise their tadpoles in the tiny pools that collect in bromeliads, and insects reach the peak of their diversity in the canopy of giant trees like the Ceiba. The ancient Maya of Central America believed that a great Ceiba tree stood at the center of the earth, connecting the terrestrial world to the spirit-world above.
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