Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Among the cornucopia of plant life are 8,000 varieties of plants, including more than 600
types of orchids. Of these, nearly 200 are unique to Guatemala. The rugged cloud forests
of Sierra de las Minas, meanwhile, boast the presence of 17 distinct species of pine trees
found nowhere else on earth. Endemic orchid species include Guatemala's national flower,
the rare
monja blanca,
or “white nun.” It is found in the cloud forests of the Verapaces re-
gion.
Guatemala means “land of the trees” in the ancient Mayan-Toltec language. According
to 2005 figures, 37 percent of Guatemala remained covered in forest in 2005, down from
40 percent in 2001. Among the different types of forest present in Guatemala's varied cli-
mate zones are tropical rainforest, tropical dry forests, evergreen forests, and cloud forests.
In some cold, mountainous parts of Guatemala there are temperate forests whose broadleaf
trees'leavesbrieflychangecolorbeforefallingtotheground,thoughnotatalltotheextent
of the displays of fall foliage present in parts of North America.
The forests of Petén are officially classified mostly as tropical moist and tropical wet
forests. Guatemala's only true rainforests, strictly speaking, are found in the Cerro San Gil
along the Caribbean Coast.
Most of Guatemala's remaining forest cover is found in Petén, especially the northern
third of the department in a huge park known as the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The Vera-
paces, Izabal, Quiché, and Huehuetenango also have significant amounts of forest cover
remaining. Many of these forests are on remote mountains that have remained inaccessible
and have therefore escaped the ravages of the advance of the agricultural frontier. Signific-
antwetlands,includingfourofinternationalimportance,arefoundinPetén,Izabal,andthe
western section of the Pacific Coast plains near the Mexican border. Mangrove forests are
found on the Pacific and Caribbean Coasts.
Amongtheplantsyou'llfindinGuatemala'stropicalforestsisthetoweringceiba
(Ceiba
pentandra),
which is Guatemala's national tree and was considered sacred by the Mayans.
Ithasawidetrunkandbuttressedrootswithbranchesfoundonlyattheverytop.Theceiba
can reach heights of 60 meters. You will often find them in cleared fields—one of only a
few trees left standing amid grazing cattle. The most famous example is along the footpath
at the entrance to Tikal National Park, where visitors are often photographed standing next
to the tree's colossal trunk.
Another common tropical forest tree is the
chicozapote,
from which chicle is extracted
for use in the manufacture of chewing gum.
Chicleros
cut V-shaped notches in the tree's
trunk, allowing the sap to drip down the tree to a receptacle placed there for its collection.
These days chicle goes to Japan, which still favors the traditional base for making gum.
During the early 20th century, most of Guatemala's chicle went to the Wrigley Company.
The
ramón,
or breadnut tree, is found throughout the tropical flatlands and was widely
used during Mayan times for making tortillas and drinks, among other things. Archaeolo-
gistshavelinkedtheincreasingconsumptionoframónseedstodecreasingfood-production
