The beach almond is the shade of the Costa Rican beach, a wide tree whose branches grow in flat tiers like the floors of a building. In the dry season the big leaves turn red and gold and drop, which is as much autumn as Guanacaste offers.
Where you’ll see it
Along the top of every beach and lining the streets of Coco. It was introduced to the tropics long ago and has made itself at home everywhere warm and coastal.
What to know
The fruit is a hard fibrous oval, green then purple, with an almond-like kernel inside that takes real effort to reach. Scarlet macaws are one of the few animals with the beak for it, and a beach almond in fruit is where to look for them on the coast. Squirrels, magpie-jays and parrots take the rest. It drops a lot of leaves and a lot of fruit, which is the price of the shade.
