reflections on a a stately tree

If one were to describe the aesthetically 'perfect tree' , it would have to satisfy numerous parameters. A psychologist once observed that one of the subconscious human criteria for a handsome face is a visage that is governed by a perfect or nearly perfect symmetry of halves. If the same criteria could be transposed to trees, then perhaps no other tree would better qualify than the 'rain' tree, or Samanea saman. This member of the bean family (Fabaceae) is native to tropical America (or the Costa Rica to Venezuela region, to be precise), but it is now pantropically distributed. This tree was found growing in a town in the Philippines-notice the near perfect symmetry of its two halves. A tree of this size and girth is probably at least a century old (compare the size of the tree to the diminutive person to its right, who is actually closer to the viewer than the tree itself). Rain trees derive their name from the fact that they also serve as crude indicators of weather. This happens just before a monsoonal downpour approaches (or before nightfall), when their characteristically pinnate leaves fold. The scientific explanation for this foliar response is probably linked to discernible changes in atmospheric humidity detected by the tree as well as the abatement of natural light. Such a plausible explanation might seem too prosaic for the poetically inclined, who would prefer to see this as evidence of arborial submission to the mightier forces that emanate from nature's caprices. But to the wandering passerby simply caught unaware in a sudden rainstorm who seeks shelter under such a tree, the mundane explanation serves no comfort. A tree whose leaves close just as the skies open offers no reprieve from the rain during the merciless onslaught of one of those tropical downpours. But perhaps this is precisely the point. The tree compels one to understand nature from a different perspective, so that the perception of being drenched should not be to feel discomfort, but to be reminded that water sustains life.