Some experts say that the guana tree, after the prickly pear cactus, is the most representative of these lands. They also tell us that when walking around the city you will find a few specimens of this endemic tree of Cuba, which is intertwined with history and even appears in the local coat of arms.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- “So, as far as I remember, there is one left at the Buena Vista tank bus stop and another two in the Revolution Plaza,” Waldo Bonet, a passionate connoisseur of these matters, commented some time ago to 26.
That day, the expert spoke of the benefits of the plant, whose specimens extended from the area of Najasa, in Camagüey, to Guardalavaca, in Holguín; but its largest population was found in these lands, especially in the area of San Miguel del Junco.
They produced gaiters and white waistcoats that made all the difference and helped a lot when, in the middle of the manigua (scrubland), there was no other way to keep decent clothes on. It was not for nothing that Vicente García's troops were the best dressed in the Liberation Army.
It happens that the guana is in the bark of the tree and to make the magic of the little hats with it, for example, they have to be cut in full. They are now in critical danger of extinction and there are very few left in these lands where they were once bountiful and extremely useful.
Nor are they planted on our land, according to the experts, because they tend to damage urban spaces with the force of their roots. Thus, this piece of Cuba, which has suffered from deforestation since colonial times, when the Spaniards cut down its vast plains to make pastures for horses, is also seeing the growth of generations who, with luck, are already identifying it.
Moreover, with that dangerous habit that we have of not being able to chain together knowledge, it happens that botanists and workers of the Comunales do not agree, and neither do they come out of the drawers, or solid scientific investigations are channeled in that sense. And the urban environment continues to be filled with trees adapted from other climates, which are not even a long-term solution to the dilemmas of local ornamentation; while wonders, such as the guana, are forgotten.
Here, we now have an abundance of West Indian jasmine, bougainvillea, and figs (especially rubbery and green), plants that are extremely resistant to drought but are not native to our geography. Moreover, population growth is cutting down left and right, and any day now we will have more valuable species absent, present here since the time of our great-grandparents, to mourn.
The solutions are, of course, in the nurseries, where is essential to give space for what is ours to flourish. Also, careful pruning and multisectoral, intentional, and constant work. Opening up to new forms of management can help, for example, consolidate the management of areas differently, one that focuses on diversity and what is ours.
Ways will have to be found, but every oak tree pruned in the bush and every species deliberately ignored hurts. Together, we are in time to paint the city of what we truly are.
