The Habitation arboretum

Calabashes have been around for centuries in the West Indies. As far back as the Caribbean Indians, fruit was cut in half, hollowed out and made into containers called coui (kwi) or calabashes in West Indian Creole. They could then be decorated with roucou or indigo... Today, local craftsmen use them to make lamps, sculptures and even musical instruments...

The arboretum de l'Habitation is home to trees that are hundreds of years old, some of them rare, some of them on the verge of becoming so... and as you stroll along a path lined with educational panels for each specimen, you'll come across fruit that makes you wonder how the tree manages to bear them...