Orchids, honey and spices at the UFM’s arboretum

The flower Encyclia baculus that is near the bust of Francisco Marroquín

During this time of the year, those who pass by the bust of Francisco Marroquín, in the Central Garden of Universidad Francisco Marroquín, perceive a sweet smell of honey and spices.  Such a fragrance comes from the orchids that are on the nearby trees.

The specific responsible for those smells are the orchids Encylia Baculus that form part of the UFM’s arboretum.  Such epiphyte orchids are 30 to 80 centimeters high.  They have cylindrical and elongated pseudo bulbs, their leaves are linear.  Their fragrant flowers measure around 10 cm in length and grow in groups of two or three, their petals are yellow green and the flowers lip is glued to half the column.

Among the objectives of the UFM’s
arboretum is to conserve and exhibit live plants and trees that are native and exotic; to comprise an ecological refugee to endangered animal and vegetable species from the area; to recover the ecosystem in the University campus, and to have an inventory of the campus biodiversity.

The UFM’s arboretum offers perdurable lessons to all of those interested in protecting the environment: 1. that individual persons should worry and be responsible for their surroundings, processing the specific information on time and place of their localities to discover the ecological niches; 2. that there is no incompatibility between economic growth and the quality of the environment; and 3. that the effective protection of the environment depends from establishing institutions that protect individual rights and that the acknowledgment of private property constitutes an essential condition to improve the quality of the environment.

In October 2006 the arboretums website of Universidad Francisco Marroquín won the prize
 for the best website in Guatemala, in the education category.


 

Categorías:

Recientes

epidendrum-ciliare-ufm

Epidendrum ciliare adornan el campus

cadep-xela

Consecuencias no intencionadas del estatismo, en Xela

136739043_701377430577964_742878472982487182_o

Nieve en el campus de Madrid