Names for trees

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Dolores1

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Please help with translating these names of trees in Spanish to English:

caoba (mahogany), uva de playa (sea grape), higuero, almacigo, avellano criollo, cajuil, caimito, copey, roble, palma (palm)

Flamboyan, gri gri, ceiba, carolina, mara

Cha cha, acacia amarilla, javilla extranjera, laurel, coco, nim, casuarina, melina
 

Marianopolita

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Dolores these are the ones I know in English

Higuero= Dolores isn't the name "higuera" which means "Fig tree"

Almacigo = Mastic tree

Avellano =Hazel

Caimito= Star apple

Roble= Oak tree

Palm= palma. But you can have different types of palm trees. For example "Palma de coco" = Coconut palm

Ceiba= "Silk-cotton tree" or "ceiba"

Laurel= Laurel

Coco= coconut. Dolores the name of tree is "cocotero' or "palma de coco"


I while try to find out what some of the others mean.


LDG.
 
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Chirimoya

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Cajuil is cashew

Flamboyan - flame tree in some places

Acacia amarilla - yellow acacia

Laurel in the DR is ficcus, not laurel as in bay tree

Nim is neem (South Asian tree used as an insect repellent)
 

Stodgord

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Lesley D said:
Higuero= Dolores isn't the name "higuera" which means "Fig tree"

Almacigo = Mastic tree

Avellano =Hazel

Caimito= Star apple

Roble= Oak tree

Palm= palma. But you can have different types of palm trees. For example "Palma de coco" = Coconut palm

Ceiba= "Silk-cotton tree" or "ceiba"


Lesley,

Higuero in the DR is a tropical tree that bears a non-edible fruit that has a hard shell. Maracas are made from this fruit.

Isn't a fig and "higo" in spanish?
 

Marianopolita

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Stodgord...

Yes, I agree "fig" is "higo" which is the fruit of "higuera".

However what I was asking Dolores is to clarify the meaning of "higuero". Usually the tree is the masculine form of the noun and the fruit of the tree is feminine BUT there are always exceptions.

For example:

"Cerezo" is a cherry tree and the fruit of the tree is "cereza".

I just looked in two reliable dictionaries and "fig tree" is quoted as "higuera"

That's why I am hoping Dolores will clarify because as far as I know "higuera" is the tree.

LDG.
 
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Marianopolita

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Stodgord...

I just found a good dictionary definition to confirm what I was saying:


higuera
f. ?rbol mor?ceo, de media altura, de savia de l?tex amargo, madera blanca y hojas grandes y lobuladas, cuyo fruto es el higo: su higuera da sombra al patio.

source:www.elmundo.es/diccionarios.


LDG.
 

Stodgord

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Lesley D said:
I just found a good dictionary definition to confirm what I was saying:


higuera
f. ?rbol mor?ceo, de media altura, de savia de l?tex amargo, madera blanca y hojas grandes y lobuladas, cuyo fruto es el higo: su higuera da sombra al patio.

source:www.elmundo.es/diccionarios.


LDG.


Lesley, I was just thinking that the tree that Dolores is talking about is spelled with the two dots on the "u" to give a sound of gu while the one you are refering to does not have the dots on the "u" and give a sound of ga. Let me know if this is your assumption as well.
 

Marianopolita

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Stodgord,

I was just curious when I asked Dolores about higuera. I am by no means a tree or plant connoisseur but I can names some common names. The tree I am asking about is higuera= fig tree. The only person who can confirm your query is Dolores however, in the mean time do you know what higuero is in English because it's no where to be found in the many dictionaries I referenced.


LDG.
 
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MommC

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She also doesn't have cedre on the list.......

which is cedar in English.
There is also acer which is maple!

Also I understood roble was walnut (I have some shelves in my kitchen that are roble and it sure looks like walnut to me!) while oak was quercia (sp?)?

Boy was I mistaken!!!





Robalito \Rob`a*li"to\ Roble \Ro"ble\, n. [Sp., oak.]

(Bot.) The California white oak (Quercus lobata).

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)





roble

noun

1: large tree of Trinidad and Guyana having odd-pinnate leaves and violet-scented axillary racemes of yellow flowers and long smooth pods; grown as a specimen in parks and large gardens [syn: Platymiscium trinitatis]
2: tall graceful deciduous California oak having leathery leaves and slender pointed acorns [syn: California white oak, valley oak, valley white oak, Quercus lobata]

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
 
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Chirimoya

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Readytogo said:
What is the name of the tree that has both dark and white grain running through it, often used to make crafts that are sold beside the road?

Could be acacia. This tree is being used in reforestation programmes in some parts of the Cibao, and can be seen along stretches of the Duarte highway. The idea is that is can be sustainably exploited.
 

mobrouser

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Readytogo said:
What is the name of the tree that has both dark and white grain running through it, often used to make crafts that are sold beside the road?

the different colour is an indication of sapwood (or heartwood) which would be the light coloured grain. older wood in the tree trunk will be the darker colour. you will find this colour variation in most slower growing species.

mob
 

Stodgord

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Lesley D said:
Stodgord,

I was just curious when I asked Dolores about higuera. I am by no means a tree or plant connoisseur but I can names some common names. The tree I am asking about is higuera= fig tree. The only person who can confirm your query is Dolores however, in the mean time do you know what higuero is in English because it's no where to be found in the many dictionaries I referenced.


LDG.


Lesley,

I doubt it would be found in any Spanish dictionary, like you said before in the fruit thread, different Latin American countries have different names for their fruits, that goes the same for the trees. Anyway, higuero (with the 'gue' pronounce like the 'gue" like in Mayaguez) in DR, is non-edible and maracas are made of. In South American they make the "guiro" out of it, for the Cumbia music.
 

Perez

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I will like to make a correction, I think the tree your reffering to ,that maracas are made from is the Gourd tree, or scientifically known as the calabash tree.the problem arises because in Puerto rico they call it higuera, well it is not an higuera it is a calabash and the hard shell fruit is called guiro with the two '' accenting the u.

"Crescencia Cujete" is the latin name. See pics :http://waynesword.palomar.edu/sausage.htm

and higuera is not technacly a tree it is a palm, and in Santo Domingo and cuba the fruit is called corojos.

In the middle east higuera is a palm tree that produces figs.

Dr. Perez
 
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GringoCArlos

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Flamboyan = " Flamboyant" in English, but the true name of the tree is "Poinciana". The poinciana comes in 3 colors: red, orange and yellow. Flamboyant refers to the red-colored poinciana.

The black and white wood used to make "pilons" (sp?) - or the wooden cups that cooks use to smash garlic in, with a pestle - are the "Guayacane" tree. I think it has the same name in English.

Casuarina is the same in English. This is a type of pine tree that likes salt, which is why it grows near the sea. They grow fast, they seed many many offspring, and in a hurricane, the whole thing tips over very easily, as the roots are very shallow and dense.

Another tree in the DR is the "noni", which in the West Indies is called "Mulberry tree" or also "Noni" in other parts of the world. Yes, this is the same tree that multilevel marketers sell "Noni juice" made from the fruits. You can usually see this tree's fruits being sold from stands in the Juan Dolio area, although the fruits are very early and green and hard. The juice is made from mature fruits which have turned white and mushy.
 
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Cedar is cedro.

Maple is arce, not acer. As far as I know, this tree is not commercially grown in DR and its wood is practically impossible to find, if at all there. I tried in vain last year, because I wanted kitchen cabinets made from this wood.
 

Dolores1

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Maple is known as maple here and is available. Ochoa (available in Santiago and Santo Domingo) has it, and I think Mademonte, too. It is more costly than mahogany.

I would not recommend this wood because it is subject to termites.
 

macocael

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Roble is oak, and we have the flowering variety, which can be seen here planted all along the Avenida Bolivar

Flamboyan or Framboyan is the Flame Tree or Royal Poinciana

Ebano Verde, (of the magnolia family) a tree that doesnt get mentioned much and is found in Los Haitises, it is one of the real treasures here

We also have here the very beautiful Orquidea de Pobre or Bauhinia tree, a lovely example of which can be seen on the corner of Cervantes and Casimiro Moya, along with another exquisite flowering tree, the Ca?afistola Mansa, or Yellow Cassia (which maybe what you mean by acacia amarilla?)

of course, along with our famous Caoba (Dominican mahogany being in fact the best in the world) we also have another incredibly durable hardwood which was harvested back in colonial times, the Guayacan or lignum vitae. Surviving Taino relics are often made of this stonelike dense dark wood.

While the Flamboyan is not flowering just now (wait for late Spring/summer), I noticed that all the Amapola trees are flowering again (I guess there must be two flowering seasons), This imported tree, subject of many country songs and merengues, is known in English as the African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata).

And let's not forget the incredibly huge and stately Almond trees, Almendro, that line many of the streets in Gazcue, particularly around Lea de Castro and Pasteur.

Gri gri may not have an English name. Its scientific name is Bucida Buceras, and in Puerto Rico it is called caracol?.

A fair pamphlet with color pix, called Flowers of the Caribbean, by G.W Lennox and S.A. Seddon can be had from Amazon (though without the Spanish names) and a book intended more for botanists is Arboles Dominicanos by Alain Henri Liogier, but the illustrations are not in color, and that is frustrating.
 

Mirador

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macocael said:
By the way, does anyone know what the English is for "ruda" the little pale green odiferous herb used in informal baptisms here?


Maco, to my understanding all baptisms are formal affairs, and you have your folk herbs mixed up. Ruda (ruta graveolens) is mostly used in abortive preparations, so it is ironic your suggestion that it is used in baptism. You probably mean albahaca (ocimum basilicum), known as sweet basil in English, and extensively used in folk religion baptism rites, together with Holy Water (spring water gathered on Good Friday (Friday before Easter Sunday), and in the Southwest at 'La Aguita' in Maguana Arriba...
 
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