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Have You Seen the Fence Post Trees? |
| From the Anguilla Local News - Site Map. |
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Have You Seen the Fence Post Trees? |
| From the Anguilla Local News - Site Map. |
![[Click to enlarge fence post trees.]](images/fencepost.jpg)
Along the roads in certain areas of Anguilla is
a tree that goes by many names and has many uses.
Some people call it the turpentine tree.
Others call it the Gumbo-limbo, the red birch, or
the red lobster tree, because it has an outer reddish skin, which
it continually sheds to reveal a shiny green surface beneath.
The scientific name is Bursera simaruba.
It's sometimes called the fence post tree, because it makes
a perfect fence post-if you cut off a branch and stick it
in the ground, the branch will grow into a
living fence post that never rots.
The soft wood is ideal for young boys to use in carving model sailing boats.
But the best name for this tree is the tourist tree, because the tree gets red and peels.
Revised: October 24, 1997