There are trees that travel in memory. The yellow-flowered samu'u blooming in Parque Rodó, Montevideo, is one of them. Antonio Schinca, a Uruguayan who visits and photographs the specimen, describes it as "a living bridge to Paraguay." With each flowering, he records the beauty of the Ceiba chodatii, a tree of the Malvaceae family that in the Paraguayan Chaco takes on a bottle shape to store water and survive extreme drought.
The scientific name honors Swiss botanist René Chodat, who studied Paraguayan flora in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Uruguay, however, the moist soil prevents the trunk from developing the characteristic basal swelling. "This is the only yellow-flowered samu'u I know of in Uruguay," says Schinca. The pink-flowered variety, Ceiba speciosa, is common in the country; the white or yellow-flowered one is extremely rare.
The life of the solitary specimen is not easy. It blooms in the austral winter, when cold weather drives away insects and hummingbirds, accustomed to seeking pink flowers. Pollination is scarce: where others produce abundant fruit, this one barely reaches six or seven. And many fall to the ground without opening, without releasing the cotton that disperses the seeds. A recent cyclone knocked down more than 70% of the flowers. Schinca photographed a bee extracting pollen from a fallen flower — a metaphor for resilience.
In Paraguay, the samu'u has another life. Lidia Pérez de Molas recalls that in the flooded Chaco, canoes made from the tree's wood are still used to take children to school. "Its wood was used to make canoes," adds Schinca. The image of the thorny trunk turned into a vessel that navigates the flood and carries knowledge to the young reveals the dialogue between nature and culture.
The conversation between Montevideo and Paraguay — photos, audios, words from botanists and friends — reflects what the samu'u represents: a tree that summons, that unites across borders and kilometers. As Schinca writes, "trees that deserve to be seen also teach us to see better."