The Lagunària de la Llotja

Locals call it pica-pica, and the name is a warning rather than an insult. Lagunaria patersonii comes from a single small island in the Tasman Sea, Norfolk Island, and packs its seed pods with fine glass-like hairs that itch for hours if the pod is opened carelessly. English speakers call the species the itchy bomb tree for the same reason. In summer it flowers in pale pink cups that pass for a small hibiscus, which is where the polite half of its name comes from. This specimen grows on the Passeig de Sagrera, the seafront promenade, directly in front of La Llotja, the fifteenth century Gothic merchants' exchange that is one of Palma's best known medieval buildings. At 2.6 metres round and 18 metres tall it is a substantial specimen of a species usually kept smaller as a street or garden tree, catalogued by the Balearic government among the island's singular trees for exactly that reason. It is the most street level and sociable entry on this page: no garden wall, no ticket, just a big tree doing its work of shade and ornament on a promenade full of people, across from a building that has been central to Mallorcan trade since before Columbus sailed.