This tree was very difficult to identify. It has a VERY large trunk, about 4 feet across. It was also very tall, at least 3-4 stories tall. The leaves were very hard to see since they only sprouted at the top of the tree. I tried to magnify with my camera, but got some very blurry leaves. At the top, there was strange orange coloration on the bark. I tried to capture it in one of the photos. Amazing tree!
Malpighiales is one of the largest orders of flowering plants, containing about 16000 species, approximately 7.8% of the eudicots. The order is very diverse and hard to recognize except with molecular phylogenetic evidence. It is not part of any of the classification systems that are based only on plant morphology. Molecular clock calculations estimate the origin of stem group Malpighiales at around 100 Mya (million years ago) and the origin of crown group Malpighiales at about
