Gondwanaland Trading Company
From the Ends of the Earth, to the Beginning of Time!

Elephant Tree

(Bursera fagaroides )
Bursera fagaroides

The Sierra de Baja California is a ruggedly beautiful mountain range populated by amazingly unique and whimsical plants found nowhere else on the planet.  We were climbing the Picacho del Diablo, the highest point on the peninsula and it was over 100 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. We hiked through a crazy forest of Dr. Suess like Boojum trees, (Fouquieria columnaris). The ground was purple colored and the sandstone boulders glowed golden in the morning sun. The landscape made us feel like we were on the set of a bad science fiction movie! We came upon a great specimen of Bursera fagaroides which was 4 meters tall by a half meter wide. It must have been over 100 years old and the green skin showing through the peeling white papery bark made it look alive! Really alive! It was covered with orange and red seeds and was just awesome to see! The colors played perfectly off the purple ground and it was completely surreal scene. We sat under that tree for an hour just appreciating the crazy scene. It was, we all agreed, the most otherworldly place we had ever been in. We collected seeds and moved on. We have grown trees from these seeds and shaped them into bonsai. You can purchase these amazing 7 year old plants here. Plants shipped bare root or as potted bonsai.

Elephant Tree

Elephant Tree

$64.99 Sale! $54.99