This is a page that is growing as fast as the forest here. There are just SO many types of trees that it is time to divide
this into three sections. I will start with "Wood trees", "Fruit trees" and make another section for trees with other
usefulness like cinnamon or rubber for example. There are both types of trees that have medicinal properties, but I will keep
that listing in the "Medicinal plant" section and make mention where applicable.
To navigate this site you simply hold the cursor over a picture to identify the category then click on that picture to
take you to more information or at least a better picture of it.
Hardwood trees
An extremely big part of deforestation is because of the hard woods found naturally here in the rainforest. It is exported
for making furniture and many other uses but it isn't just this that the trees are being destroyed for. An enormous amount is
used locally still just for cooking everyday meals. With the lack of sanitation amd purified water, every meal needs to be cooked, multiply that by the millions of people here, and you may begin to grasp the devastation. Gas and electric stoves here are luxury items normally used by the rich
and city bound population. But it is the traditional way to cook so changing habits are hard to convert. For just a chart of
wood samples click here.
Fruit trees
There are over 200 different fruit trees with many subspecies of them here in Guatemala. Can you even imagine that? Only about 12 of them are exported and this is for several reasons that I will try to explain. I am not even going to try to research every type of fruit tree, but I will elaborate on the popular ones that have historical value, the medicinal ones, and some of the very strange ones.
Useful trees
There are some trees that are not necessarily fruit, or just used as hardwood, but some that just have unique properties that make them useful. You may be familiar with them for other reasons besides what I will tell you about but you might like to know so here it is.
Palms and palm-like trees
I used to think that palm trees were palm trees and they just grew coconuts and dates. WRONG!There are many more, but these are the unique and memorable ones.
