My wife had a scheduled conference in Camarillo this weekend, so we stayed at the lovely Courtyards by Marriot Hotel.
Not only did the hotel have a beautiful, heated, swimming pool, but on either end of the pool there were fascinating trees I had not yet learned to identify.
My first task was to identify the trees. With my two favorite California tree books in hand, and a leaf from each tree, I proceeded to identify the Melaleucas and the Cinnamomoms. The common name for the Melaleuca quinquenervia is Cajeput Tree or Paperbark Tree. It looks as though the bark is unraveling from the trunk like so many leaves of light brown paper. Its flower is similar to that of the bottlebrush tree and, yes, it looks like a yellow baby’s bottlebrush. The common name for the Cinnamomom camphora is the Camphor Tree. One whiff of a crushed leaf confirms the diagnosis — it’s a cross between Vicks Vapo Rub and a mothball. No wonder there were no insects in sight. Both trees are magnificent in their structure. The Melaleuca stands tall and straight and the Cinnamomom stretches out its very thick lower limbs like a Buddha with several arms holding branches to the sky.
Can you imagine my rapture, enjoying swimming as I do, seeing one group of those trees as I swam westward and the other group on my way east? I talked to the trees as I swam, pronouncing their Latin and Greek scientific names while relishing the translations and meanings. What did I read about when I finally exited the water to “rest”? About two so-far unidentified trees that I had spotted in the hotel parking lot that morning.
What will I do tomorrow? I will test out my new coordinate-GPS app at the Cal State campus near me. A new friend emailed me a wonderful, clickable, Google Earth map showing the locations, and providing the coordinates, of the many trees on the university campus. With the information from my two new tools, I intend to be able to locate the trees that are waiting to be identified, and waiting to become my newest friends.
My trees and genealogy hobbies provide exciting discoveries. You know what? Every day there’s a new discovery. This afternoon I used a new recipe to make tonight’s lentil soup. And with my wife’s brown basmati rice, “Mmmm, mmmm good.“
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at Robertebsen@hotmail.com