Our butus tree.

A very interesting tree species grows all over Vancouver Island. It has a very distinct bark, red and orange paper-y skin peels away to leave a perfectly smooth surface. This tree is broad-leaved, but evergreen; it's the only broad-leaved evergreen in Canada. Most commonly, you come across smaller examples of this tree. I thought it was a shrub until I asked Jill about it, but it can grow up to 100 feet tall. Since then, I've seen some huge individuals. The scientific name for this tree species is Arbutus menziesii. Commonly, it just goes by Arbutus. I noticed a street in Vancouver that was called Arbutus Street and I was wondering what the name referred to; once I was on the Island I learned about the tree.

One of Jill's friends told me a funny story about Arbutus trees. Years ago, his mother, Ellen, told one of the little neighbourhood girls about Arbutus trees. Awhile later the girl was visiting Ellen with her own mother. The girl's mother mentioned that Ellen's tree was a particularly nice example of an Arbutus. The little girl said, "No Mom, that isn't our butus tree, that's Ellen's butus tree."

I think we need to write to Reader's Digest about that one.