The Pohutukawa of Parque Genoves

A tree from the opposite side of the planet turns part of Cadiz crimson every early summer. This Metrosideros excelsa, a pohutukawa native to New Zealand's coastline, blooms in May and June with a mass of red flowers so consistent that New Zealanders call the species their Christmas tree, seven months out of sync with the Southern Hemisphere's own December summer. Spanish and international sources both describe it as the oldest documented pohutukawa anywhere in Europe, over a century old, a parent to cuttings that have gone on to seed the species in gardens across the continent. City arborists took no chances after it lost a branch in a winter storm. The parks department brought in a specialist firm to run a resistograph test and sound tomography on the trunk, then fitted a support structure, and Cadiz's own planning rules now protect it as a specimen of heritage value. It grows multi-trunked from the base, a shape more shrub than tree at first glance until the size of the individual limbs corrects that impression. Parque Genoves, the 19th century garden built to display exactly this kind of imported curiosity, gives it company. A dragon tree, an ombu and a floss silk tree share the same grounds, each from a different continent, none native to Spain.