| In José Maria Castano's garden, the priest
of Elche in the 19th century, you'll find some of the most beautiful and
unexpected specimens of date palms ( phoenix dactilifera) in existence.
The life span of palm trees varies between two and three hundred years.
The oldest trees can grow to be as tall as 30 meters.
In the garden, you'll have the opportunity to admire a great number of
botanical species: plants and flowers and lemon, orange, carob and jujube
trees...
And you'll get a chance to see a number of different varieties of cacti,
placed around pools filled with aquatic plants.
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THE IMPERIAL PALM
The imperial palm tree is what has made the garden famous. It is not
only a unique specimen because of its sheer mammoth proportions, but also
because of its seven branches, all growing at the same time.
This incredible candelabra weighs more than 10 metric tons and is 150
years old.
Father Castano himself dedicated the tree to Empress Sissi when she visited
the garden in 1864.
| The Lady of Elche
On August 4th, 1987 during an archeological dig for roman artifacts,
the bust of a woman was uncovered. The sculpture donned a very elegant
hairstyle indeed.
Suspected to be a priestess or a noble woman, the sculpture was
placed in the archeological museum in Madrid.
There is also a life-size reproduction of the bust in the garden
itself. |
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France :