Palm Tree Stump in Barcelona

    As a wood guy I am always interested in wood related things. Also it is interesting to see how the local conditions effect the choice of building materials.  Spain was hot and dry, the view from the hills surrounding Barcelona showed no ground water, not a river or a creek or a pond any where. 

Barcelona in the distance

 
   It is not a surprise then that brick and stone were the preferred building materials.  And in many places where we would have used wood, wrought iron and other forms of metal work prevailed.

door at the Gaudi basilica

 
  Over the last couple of years Eva and I have taken southern vacations where I have seen palm trees. Naturally I have wondered about the wood available from a palm. ( don't snicker you worldly wise ones.  I am a simple man from small town northern Ontario, at heart)

   While in Barcelona we were walking through a local park where we saw this stump. (pop can to show scale).  This was big palm tree and when it was cut down it left a stump that is similar to a tree stump except the fiber in it is much less densely packed.  The palm looks more like a giant weed stem and not like a tree at all.  It does explain why there are is no palm lumber, though one does see pole and beam construction using palm logs.