The Tipu Tree of Placa Carles Buigas

The tipu tree is one of the commonest trees on Barcelona's streets, and this is the one the city measures the others against. Its own record calls this possibly the largest by trunk perimeter of any tipu tree it knows of in the city, at 3.3 metres round, and dates it to 1925, which puts it in the first wave of plantings that brought the species over from Bolivia and northern Argentina. The experiment worked. Tipuanas turned out to handle Barcelona's heat, its drought and its pavements better than almost anything else on offer, and the city kept planting them until they became ordinary. Anyone who parks under one in summer knows the other half of that decision: tipuanas host sap-sucking insects that rain a fine sticky mist onto whatever sits below. This one stands at the foot of Montjuic a few steps from the Magic Fountain, throwing a 23 metre crown over a square that most visitors cross on their way somewhere else without once looking up. In late May and June it turns orange-yellow with pea-shaped flowers, then drops them, and for about a week the paving is the same colour as the tree.