The Trees of El Yunque

Book excerpt: This book is the end product of ten years of exploration that began with a series of three small guide-books written to help El Yunque National Forest visitors to discover and identify some of the forest's many ecological marvels. These small reference books included descriptions of 57 individual tree species. Between 2010 and 2012, a monthly El Yunquer NF website feature 'Endemic Plant Facts' amassed an additonal 26 indigenous tree descriptions. Combining this significant collection of 83 specific portrayals (accompanied by full-color photos and illustrations) into a single, portable guide-book, similar to its predecessor 'The Animals of El Yunque', that would fit easily into a jacket-pocket or book-bag, and available as an 'e-book' and 'Smartphone App' seemed like a sensible idea. The end result, 'The Trees of El Yunque' is a 'pictorial natural history' - it is not a comprehensive listing of every species of flora that occurs in El Yunque - instead, it is an effort to present a discrete selection of trees that forest visitors might encounter and thus wish to identify while experiencing El Yunque's unique and exhilarating surroundings. Tropical forest enthusiasts and natural history 'buffs' should also be fascinated to discover the immense diversity of the flora described and pictured on these pages - all of which thrive in El Yunque; America's only tropical rainforest...