"BRASIL"
Brasil belongs to the same genus as the famous Logwood, HAEMATOXYLUM CAMPECHIANUM, found on the coasts of the Yucatan, Belize and elsewhere. Belize owes its nationhood to Logwood, for the British set up settlements there, largely of Black slaves, to harvest Logwood for the production of blue dye. The color "navy blue" has its roots in Belizean Logwood, and so does the Creole-English spoken in Belize. Below you can see Brasil's dye resulting from soaking a few chips in water for a couple of days:
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The
spiny, yellow-flowered tree sheltering the Inca Dove nest is known locally as Brasil. It's
a native species adapted to an arid climate and calcareous soil, which is exactly what we
have. Brasil is HAEMATOXYLUM BRASILETTO, a member of the Bean Family. That's Brasil's
flowers and leaves at the right.
Brasil's flowers are a little tricky to
interpret because their calyx lobes, or sepals, are large and yellow like the petals, or
"petaloid." Brasil's leaves are pinnately compound -- once-divided, featherlike,
and usually composed of only two or three pairs of oval leaflets whose tips are typically
blunt or even notched. When such leaves are matched with the unusual trunk, typically
bearing vertical depressions looking like old wounds, you know you have a Brasil. The
trunk is at the left.