What tree is considered the Mayan world tree?

What tree is considered the Mayan world tree? The answer is the ceiba.

In Maya cosmology, the ceiba served as the central world tree, or axis mundi, linking the earthly realm with the sky and the underworld. Its roots reached toward Xibalba, the Maya underworld, while its trunk and branches symbolically connected the different levels of the cosmos.

The tree is known in Maya traditions by names including yaxche and yax imix che, often translated in connection with a green or blue-green tree of abundance. World-tree imagery appears in Maya art, architecture, and manuscripts. At Palenque, the Temple of the Cross complex contains one of the best-known architectural expressions of this cosmic tree.

The ceiba should not be confused with a generic “tree of life” found in many cultures. The Maya world tree was specifically associated with ceiba imagery, though artistic representations could also include birds, serpent or caiman forms, and the Milky Way. Ceiba species are physically imposing tropical trees, often with broad crowns and dramatic buttress roots, features that helped support their powerful symbolic role.