Teror's basilica is named after a pine, and the tallest tree beside it is not a true pine at all. By tradition an image of the Virgin was found in a pine tree here in 1481, and the church became Nuestra Señora del Pino. That original tree, the Pino de las Maravillas, fell, and no living tree in the square claims to be it. What towers over the plaza now is a Norfolk Island Pine, an araucaria from the South Pacific, 38 metres tall and more than 5 metres round. The Cabildo's catalogue of singular trees estimates it at over 100 years old. Treat that as a floor rather than a date. Nobody has recorded when it was planted, and the catalogue is the only source for its age. The catalogue says its real distinction is its shape. Two parallel trunks rise from a low fork, and the main trunk was probably cut short by a storm or lightning early in the twentieth century. Whatever took the top off, the tree has kept climbing. At its foot is a stone bench the town calls el queque, where people sit and meet, which makes this as much a piece of Teror's daily life as of its scenery. The catalogue counts at least ten large araucarias around Teror; this is the one in the square, open at all hours. If you know when it went in, tell us.
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Getting there
Plaza de Nuestra Senora del Pino, beside the basilica and the Casas Consistoriales, Teror
You can recognise it by the two parallel trunks forking low, 38 metres to the top, with a stone bench at its foot. It stands in the plaza beside the Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pino.
Free, in the public square beside the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pino; open at all times.
Bus (guagua) from Las Palmas to Teror, about 40 to 50 min by road, check line; tree is in the central plaza.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.