Fotos

For those like me who are not to keen on usual touristical attractions, the most interesting place to visit in Puerto de la Cruz is the botanical garden, just on outside of the city.
The sky was cloudy again during my short visit, but there are really exotic species to sse there, because the garden was used to "acclimate" foreign vegetal brought back by Spanish navigators who stopped in the Canaries.

Here are three view of Australian Moreton Bay figs,
- in main post here and in workshop 1, the most unusual one, Ficus Macrophylla,
- in workshop 2, another Fics, Ficus Columnaris, also from the same region.

I have found this description of the garden here: home.clara.net/heureka/tenerife/puerto.htm
High above the town, on the outskirts of of Puerto de la Cruz is the Jardín Botánico (Botanical Garden), on a par with Kew and other major Botanical Gardens around the world. Established during the age of the Spanish Enlightenment in the 18th century, by King Carlos III in 1788. The original purpose of the garden was as a half-way house to enable plants from Latin America to acclimatise themselves before being shipped to mainland Spain. The official name of the garden indicates its original purpose - Jardín de Aclimatación de la Orotava. There is also a small botanical garden at La Orotava.

Plus some pages on Ficus Macrophylla, like here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_macrophylla

Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay Fig, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the Moraceae family that is a native of most of the eastern coast of Australia, from the Atherton Tableland (17° S) in the north to the Illawarra (34° S) in New South Wales, and Lord Howe Island. Its common name is derived from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is best known for its beautiful buttress roots, which are also known for damaging municipal footpaths.

Ficus macrophylla is a strangler fig; seed germination usually takes place in the canopy of a host tree and the seedling lives as an epiphyte until its roots establish contact with the ground. It then enlarges and strangles its host, eventually becoming a freestanding tree in its own right. Individuals may reach 60 m (200 ft) in height. Like all figs, it has an obligate mutualism with fig wasps; figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers.

It is widely used as a feature tree in public parks and gardens around the world in warmer climates such as California, Portugal, Sicily and of course Australia. Old specimens can reach tremendous size. Its aggressive root system precludes its use in all but the largest private gardens.