Photo of the Week

I found the old personal photo in the UF Panama Canal collection. As you see, this photo is from 1964 and is taken on the wonderful old Amador causeway, not far from the Officers Club. This was a little pull off and parking area. The old Cuipo tree was a landmark on the causeway. It was amazing that this rare tree grew up to be so big since the causeway was only about 50 years old in 1964. I looked on Google Earth to see if the tree was still there growing, but no surprise, it is gone. How easy it was to destroy that wonderful old tree to create the new causeway. How very sad!! That tree was a miracle in it's own growing on that rocky fill that came from the Culebra Cut so long ago. There must have been a seed brought to this spot in the dump car carrying the dirt and rock. Below is a photo of the Cuipo flower, which will create the seeds. This tree under normal conditions will grow 150 - 200 feet tall.