Waxy blobs are said to be origin of ‘palo brea’ name
Clay is off this week. Here’s a column first published Dec. 23, 2009: Today’s question:
Paloverde (“green stick” in Spanish) is sensible for the so-named trees. But how did the palo brea (“tar stick”) tree get its common name? I can’t see how it has anything to do with tar.
I’d never heard of the palo brea before, but it turned out that wasn’t too surprising.
The palo brea is just one of a variety of different kinds of paloverdes.
There is the blue paloverde, the foothills or little leaf paloverde, the Mexican paloverde, a hybrid called the Desert Museum paloverde and the palo brea, also known as the Sonoran paloverde.
One thing that is interesting about the palo brea is that while most of the other varieties are pretty much limited to the Sonoran Desert, the palo brea also grows in Venezuela and Peru. I wonder why.
The palo brea got its name from some waxy little blobs that form on the green bark of its trunk. Native Americans used to gather this waxy stuff, melted it and used it to glue leather and other stuff that needed gluing. Any idea why tennis players don’t wear gloves? Any of my own ideas? Nope. However, I did look around and found some ideas. If they are correct or not, I cannot say.
First of all, some players do wear gloves, especially if they live in a climate colder than ours or if they are getting blisters on their hands.
Next, I am told that players feel that gloves will hinder their ability change their grip as needed or to feel the feedback from the racket. I don’t know what kind of feedback you get from a tennis racket, but there you have it.
Consider golfers. They wear a glove on the hand they rely on for power and not on the hand they rely on for control.
Have a question for Clay? Reach him at 602-444-8612 or clay.thompson@ arizonarepublic.com