árbol de coquitos

17:32 Mar 8 

I would like to keep the natural tone of the text, that is, name a tree the way a kid would name it without focusing too much on the tree itself. I was even thinking of using "pine tree", it's simple, well-known and understood by most kids in most cultures. "tree with the little balls" is probably closer to the original and I liked it when I first saw patinbas' suggestion, but for some reason "little balls" sounds odd to me (does it sound odd to anyone else too?) The use of "coconuts" or "round cones" may give the same idea too. But they don't sound natural to me (maybe it's just me, maybe it's just the Friday effect).

Anyway, I investigated a bit around the use of 'acorn tree', specially in content created for children and I noticed that it is widely used for different audiences, including in a lot of material for children. There are short stories and videos for kids that use it without any further explanation or clarification, just as we use 'árbol de coquitos' in Spanish. So, free free to post it as an answer, Andrew. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I think 'acorn tree' deserves some thought over the weekend. Thanks again everyone!

12:11 Mar 8 

I disagree with Laura Finch's comment at the outset that " to a 6 year old, a tree is just a tree"; not true at all; children quickly grasp the meaning of a tree, i.e, they wouldn't know that Quercius is oak, but they get it as an 'acorn tree', as they pick up and collect such things. Similarly, they wouldn't know Castanium as a horse chestnut, but would call it a conker tree, which kids play with and collect. Where a tree's fruit is edible, they call the tree what it is, i.e, apple tree, pear tree, etc.

15:12 Mar 6 

I hadn't thought, until patinba pointed it out, that it's coquitos and not coquito.

00:41 Mar 6 

I agree with phil that the asker herself does not know exactly what type of tree is being referred here to (“it refers to a type of pine tree, a cypress if I'm not mistaken”). So she is assuming that she could be mistaken. In view of this situation, we cannot know what is actually meant by “árbol de coquitos”. Nobody can know.
However, a clear indisputable fact is that the asker is requiring a rendering a six-year old child would use (“I need a term that a six-year old would use to refer to such a tree.”). This point is not debatable, in my view.
Phil, shall we finally reconcile ourselves to this non-debatable point?

00:27 Mar 6 

1. The asker thinks it's a conifer, but admits they could be wrong. It could be a palm, or the broadleaf (ie non-coniferous) pseudobombax suggested by Toni, or something else.

2. We still don't know the relevance of the six-year-old child. It could be Ulises' age, but he's not telling the story, so we don't need to use baby language. And if it's written for six-year-olds, they might well enjoy an exotic and unfamiliar word like 'coquito'.

Instead of guessing, I think there's nothing wrong with keeping the Spanish. This is a story, possibly for children, who have no interest in the finer points of botanical classification.

19:45 Mar 5 

I have both a liquidambar (deciduous) and a cypress in my garden and they both shed what are colloquially known locally as "coquitos". In the case of the liquidambar, wikipedia tells me: "Fallen, opened fruits are often abundant beneath the trees; these have been popularly nicknamed "burr (or bir) balls", "gum balls", "space bugs", "sticker balls","spike balls", or "monkey balls" which would justify the child calling them "balls". They also tend to cover the ground more profusely than cypress cones. A Spanish reference: "diy guirnalda de coquitos liquidambar" Pinterest - España https://www.pinterest.es › ·
guirnaldas de los coquitos del liquidambar. hacer una guirnalda para navidad para árbol con frutos (coquitos ) liquidambar. una guirnalda rústica , simple ...

18:28 Mar 5 

... is a cypress. I have quite a few in my garden. "Coquitos" can be Brazil nuts, but that's from a S. American tree.

18:15 Mar 5 

1. How do you know it's a pine/cypress (those are two different genuses), and not the palm suggested by Taña?
I guess it could be the palm. I mentioned the pine/cypress because that's how I've known it as since I was a child.

2. Where do the pictures come from, and how are they captioned?
Pictures come from the web. I included them as examples of what "coquitos" and "árbol de coquitos" may refer to.

3. Do you want to maintain the local colour, in which case you should leave it in Spanish, or find a more generic substitute?
I'd like a generic substitute.

4. Why a six-year-old? The sentence is written in adult language, and to most children of that age, a tree is just a tree.
I like your view. "to most children of that age, a tree is just a tree". I think you have given me something there.

Thanks philgoddard!

16:57 Mar 5 

1. How do you know it's a pine/cypress (those are two different genuses), and not the palm suggested by Taña?

2. Where do the pictures come from, and how are they captioned?

3. Do you want to maintain the local colour, in which case you should leave it in Spanish, or find a more generic substitute?

4. Why a six-year-old? The sentence is written in adult language, and to most children of that age, a tree is just a tree.