T&T...Beauty of the ‘blue tree’

As the vision of blue spun its way from stem to ground, we marveled at the floral splendor that unceasingly colors our land.

This year, the diverse range of spectacular hues of our dry season once again impressed locals as well as visitors to our shores. Some likened the floral parade to the autumnal season in other countries when trees are transformed from spring and summer green to brilliant reds, oranges, pinks and yellows.

This fiddlewood is simply called the ‘blue tree’ in rural areas because of its clusters of blooms that appear to be the colour blue to the eye. Science has found that though the colour blue is all around us as in the sky and in the ocean, it is very rare in plants and animals with less than 10% occurring in plants and even less in animals. There is no naturally occurring blue in nature but the mixing of pigments and/or interplay of light are used to achieve the appearance of blue.