Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Kees Jan on December 06, 2010, 04:54:53 PM
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Tenerife and the other Canary Islands have, like many Oceanic islands, a very diverse flora that is rich in endemic species. There is much to see for the plant enthusiast on Tenerife, even in winter. Here is a selection of pics from a trip I made in late December 2007 - early January 2008, all pics are found in my Tenerife gallery at http://keesjan.smugmug.com/Botanical-trips/Europe/Tenerife/ .
The first 3 pics are Pancratium canariense
Barlia metlesicsiana (endemic to Tenerife) seems to be a very rare species.
The laurel forests have a number of highly interesting plant species that thrive in the humid, mild conditions that are typical of the laurel forest zone. Here are two subtropical species representing families that are much better known from alpine environments: Canarina canariensis (Campanulaceae) and Ixanthus viscosus (Gentianaceae)
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Lovely pictures Kees and nice to think of somewhere warm. We have had -9C and -7C inside the greenhouse over the last 2 nights, I'm thinking of knitting woolly jumpers for all the plants.
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Tenerife is not just subtropical plants though. Here is the subalpine Echium wildpretii ssp. wildpretii which grows above the treeline. This is a summer flowering species and we were lucky to find a few remaining flowers in December... The island is quite rich in ferns such as the ones displayed here: Cheilanthes vellea and Asplenium aureum. And finally there is a picture of another orchid: Habenaria tridactylites.
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Love the first shot of the Echium above, great location and plant.
Paddy
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There is a diverse range of ferns in Tenerife. :)
I'm not sure how much frost they tolerate, some would make great plants for small gardens.
Woodwardia radicans (first two pics)
Asplenium hemionitis
Asplenium onopteris
Asplenium reniforme
Cheilanthes maderensis
Davallia canariense
http://keesjan.smugmug.com/Botanical-trips/Europe/Tenerife/