Nature, Culture, and Big Old Trees: Live Oaks and Ceibas in the Landscapes of Louisiana and Guatemala : University of Texas Press : 9780292702134 : 0292702132 : 30 Apr 2004 : Big old trees inspire our respect and even affection. The poet Walt Whitman celebrated a Louisiana live oak that was solitary ?in a wide flat space, / Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near.? Groves and alleys of live oaks remain as distinctive landscape features on Louisiana's antebellum plantations, while massive individuals still cast their shade over churches, graveyards, parks, and roads. Cajuns have adopted the ?Evangeline Oak? as one of their symbols. And the attachment that Louisianians feel for live oaks is equaled by that of Guatemalans for ceibas, the national tree of Guatemala. Long before Europeans came to the Americas, the ceiba, tallest of all native species, was the Mayan world tree, the center of the universe. Today, many ceibas remain as centers of Guatemalan towns, spr