It’s been valued as incense by pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican cultures for centuries. But there are challenges to growing a live oak or mahogany in urban areas. The sabal palm captures less than a pound, according to Marcus’ tree management plan. The family Burseraceae has a long history, indeed prehistory, involving its resin and human cultures. Mahogany and gumbo limbo trees with 20-inch diameter trunks at chest height remove about 80 pounds of carbon per year. The resin has also been employed in varnishes and glue. Native Americans and Caribbeans have used the sticky gumbo limbo bark resin as bird lime, a sort of sticky trap to capture birds. I won’t go into the medicinal practices, but will say that different parts of these trees - resin, sap, leaves, bark, fruit, wood and their various extracts -have been used to treat inflammation, parasites, digestive issues and just about everything else. The gumbo limbo belongs to the Burseraceae family, aka the torchwood or frankincense family - one with loads of ethnobotanical, medicinal and cultural uses. It’s a good candidate for habitat restoration because it is fast growing (though non-invasive) and can tolerate most soil types. Once established, it requires no irrigation at all, nor additional nutrition. While it won’t tolerate long-term saltwater inundation, it does have a moderate tolerance to salt air, so it makes a great coastal tree. Gumbo limbo obviously thrives in our poor, alkaline soil. It may seem odd to see a bare tree in South Florida, but this is normal for the gumbo limbo in late fall or spring, and the leaf shedding is usually not complete. Gumbo limbos are semi-evergreen, regenerating leaves seasonally or during drought conditions. Stocky, older individuals develop a massive trunk several feet in diameter that swells after lots of rain, three or four thick lower limbs, and a canopy nearly as wide as the tree is tall. Gumbo limbo ( Bursera simaruba) belongs to a family of mostly tropical trees, with gumbo limbo found in northern South America, the Caribbean and in its northernmost range here in Southeast Florida. Gumbo limbo, though a common tree in most South Florida neighborhoods, is one of the most important members of our hammock ecosystem, and one with an interesting tale to tell. It’s easy to dismiss that which is all around us, but ask anyone from outside South Florida what a gumbo limbo is, and chances are they’ll think it’s a Cajun soup.
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