Vintage trees at Riyadh hotel capture attention of visitors

The government-owned 10-story Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh is grand in the real sense of the word.
However, what captures the attention of most guests and visitors are the 400-year-old Chorisia tree and 600-year-old olive tree in the family and single sections, located on the ground floor.
“The Chorisia trees and olive trees are from South America and Lebanon, respectively. I don’t know of any other Chorisia or olive tree in the Kingdom as old as the ones we have at the hotel,” Merhan El Massry, the hotel’s assistant director for public relation, told Arab News.
At the family section, there are two Chorisia trees. One is 400 years old and the other is about 10-years-old. There’s also one 600-year-old olive tree in the area.
The Chorisia tree in the family section is not that tall. Its big trunk is swollen at the middle, as if it has made up for its lack of height.
Looking at the tree sets off one’s mind into thinking about the history it mutely witnessed in the South American country it came from.
A few meters away is a 600-year-old olive tree; it is almost as high as the Chorisia tree and its age is shown by its bark, giving the illusion of hole-like structures.
In the single’s section, two Chorisia trees have been planted several feet taller than the ones at the family section, with equally big trunks and lush verdant foliage. One olive tree can also be seen in the area.
One may wonder how the Chorisia trees could survive in the Kingdom in the hot weather, taking into consideration that they originate from a country with milder temperature. However, Theeroovengadum Sooriyen, the landscape manager, said that Chorisia trees survive in both hot and cold climates.
“It could survive in tropical or sub-tropical countries because its trunk has thumbnails, which absorb water and keep it as a reserve when draught comes,” the 50-year-old landscape manager said.
He said that a Chorisia tree grows rapidly when there’s an abundance of water, and the hotel management has taken the necessary procedures, constructing underground water drainage for the trees.
“The circumference of Chorisia trees depends on their age and grow as high as 82 feet,” he said.
The Chorisia trees don’t only have decorative values, they are also commercially valuable as well.
Sooriyen said: “When the leaves fall, flowers grow and blossom into cotton-like substance, which is actually silk that is used as cushion for chairs and pillows. It’s also used in making ropes.
“There are two ways of raising a Chorisia tree, which is called Palo Borrocho in Spain, Floss Silla Tree in Germany and Ceiba Speciosa in Africa. One is by the planting seeds or by grafting.”
Chorisia trees are native to Argentina and Brazil. It is also called “Silk Floss” and is well known for its large spikes, which protect the trunk.
Olive trees also have commercial significance because their fruits yield olive oil. There are smaller and younger olive trees at the hotel premises.
Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean region and date back to the beginning of mankind.
When the building contractor turned over the management of the hotel a few years back, the trees were already planted at the hotel premises, he said. They were transferred from their countries of origin and brought to the Kingdom as gifts.