A Drunken Tree

Collected by Isabel Balducci from the Eastern Toba people of Gran Chaco, Argentina. So named because of its swollen water-storing trunk, the "drunken tree" (palo borracho in Spanish) is widely known in subtropical parts of South America. The scientific name of the white-flowered species is Chorisia insignis. In North America it is often called the "White Silk Floss Tree" because of its large oval seed pods that split open when ripe to expose a fluffy mass of silky fibers.

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 Step 9 - Actually, the figure most resembles a "drunken tree" when displayed vertically: the spreading canopy above, the swollen trunk in the center, and the buttressed above-ground roots below. That's how the Maka people of Gran Chaco display a similar figure they likewise call "drunken tree".

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