Montezuma cypress

The Árbol del Tule in Oaxaca belongs to this species – the tree with the stoutest trunk in the world, more than 40 m round.

A magnificent, semi-evergreen conifer with a broad crown, drooping branchlets and soft, flat needles. It grows on the banks of rivers and streams and by springs, from northern Mexico to Guatemala. It can live for more than a thousand years, and its trunk becomes massive and furrowed with age. The name “ahuehuete” comes from Nahuatl and is sometimes translated as “old man of the water”. The trees were planted in the gardens of Aztec rulers, including at Chapultepec.

Significance in the country

The ahuehuete was declared the national tree in 1921, on the centenary of independence. The Árbol del Tule in Santa María del Tule draws streams of visitors, and the ancient cypresses in Chapultepec Park date back to the time of Montezuma.

Where it grows

Along rivers and springs in almost all of Mexico apart from the Baja California and Yucatán peninsulas; the most famous trees are in Oaxaca (Árbol del Tule) and Mexico City (Chapultepec Park).

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