Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba)

The Maidenhair tree is often referred to as a living fossil because of the fact that it is the only surviving species in its tree family (genus) and is classified in its own order and division with no other surviving relatives.  The maidenhair is planted as an ornamental tree all over the world but only survives in the wild in two small regions of Eastern China.  The Maidenhair has a very unique leaf shape that resembles a Chinese hand held fan.  The leaves grow in clusters at the end of short stubby shoot like structures that look a bit like fingers and that grow gradually in length over the years.  The Maidenhair has a fruit like seed about the size of a small apricot.  These seeds only grow on the female trees from fertilized avules (see images below).

Ceiba pubiflora

This tree is identified as a Ceiba pubiflora and is located near downtown Málaga in the "Paseo del Parque" botanical garden.  The flowers are noticeably different from those of the Chorisia (Ceiba) speciosa and from the Bombax tree.  There seems however to be very little information available about this species on the internet.  I´m hoping that someone out there will know more about this species than I do.

Hawaiian orchid tree

The Hawaiian orchid tree is a member of the orchid tree family of trees in the Bauhinia genus.  This particular member of the genus is characterized by the purple color of its flowers and the camel foot shaped leaves.  These two features are why it is sometimes also called "Purple Camel´s Foot" tree.  The fruit of this tree is a 5-9 inch bean like seed pod that can contain anywhere from 12-16 seeds.