Shaving Brush Tree

The Sierra de las Minas in Guatemala is an amazing park which shelters 885 species of mammals, birds and reptiles. We were there to find and record the Psuedobombax ellipticum tree in its native habitat. The Howler monkey calls rose to a crescendo echoing off the mountains on each side of us but quickly fell silent. We knew something was up because the calls had been coming from several different troops and they all fell silent at once. The air was hot and still and not even the birds were making sounds. As we looked up we saw a massive Harpy Eagle glide over our heads with a monkey dangling down from its talons! The monkey was the size of a small dog and was carried easily by the Eagle on its 3 meter wingspan. We could hear the wing beats as the great bird pumped its wings to stay aloft.  We continued to hike down into the hotter and drier reaches of the park and came upon a glorious 30’ Psuedobombax ellipticum tree in full bloom. We collected seeds from several dozen trees and have propagated them for you. Grown in 6” pots $65.00. Plants are shipped bare root.