Tenerife, the Jewel in a botanical crown

Isoplexis canariensis A beautiful endemic
on the roadside, Anaga Ridge.    

The endemic flora of the Canary Islands is incredible, and Tenerife is arguably the most exciting island in the archipelago for its plants. The Canary Islands sit out in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, and have a very variable climate, ranging from the wet, warm and temperate island of La Palma in the west, to the hot, arid island of Lanzarote in the east. The flora of the Canary Islands is dominated by a number of genera such as Echium, Aeonium, Sonchus, Pericallis and Euphorbia. One or two endemic members of genera such as Lotus  and Limonium are also a fascinating feature; in fact the flora is so rich, it is difficult to summarise it by mentioning its important genera.

Looking at the flora of other Atlantic Islands, they are not as rich. Madeira has a few members of the Canarian genera, while the Azores and the flora of the Cape Verde Islands share little in common with the Canarian flora. A question that has been asked many times is; ‘where did this flora come from?’ One answer is that it is a remaining fragment of the flora of the African Sahara before it became a desert. However, the fringes of coastal, Mediterranean Africa and the mountains of Morocco, which have a relatively similar climate, bear little resemblance to the current endemic flora of the Canary Islands. There are also one or two genera with a beautiful single species in the Canary Islands that have no close relatives elsewhere. These include the beautiful bellflower Canarina canariensis and the member of Scrophulariaceae, Isoplexis canariensis.  Limonium sinuatum in Gibraltar is similar to the endemic Limonium species of the Canaries, but Europe has none of the extreme Echium species such as Echium wildpretii, simplex and pininana of the Canaries, neither are there any Aeoniums or the wonderful member of Sonchus that grace the Canarian flora. Even the far out possibility that the Canarian Flora is botanical proof of the existence of Atlantis has been aired.