Galapagos – Vegetation – Flora
Typical plants of the nearby coastal region are the salt bush with its long drooping leaves and yellow-green flowers, the dense low mats of the solstice, the slender thorny branches of the Lesser Fenughorn with its club-shaped leaves, as well as the equally shallow-growing beach winds and beach grass.
In the water- and humus-poor coastal areas of the islands, there is a whole range of plants that have been able to successfully resist the annual dry periods in the course of evolution. One of the most striking exponents of the flora widespread on Galápagos for visitors is often the green mangrove forests in flat coastal areas. These include the black mangrove with its yellow-brown asymmetrical fruits, the reddish branches and fleshy leaves of the red mangrove, the white mangrove dotted on the underside of the leaves and the small-leaved button mangrove.
The landmark of Galápagos are the mighty Opuntia tree cacti. They have adapted to the given environmental conditions in a unique way. There are six endemic species of these fig or opuntie cacti, which can grow up to 9m high. Their pointed, shadowless spines protect the meat from voracious egg-laying predators. The rarer columnar or candelabra cacti, up to 6m high, consist of only one endemic species, which has since been evolutionarily split.
The lava cactus that thrives on bare lava rock can only be seen as an erotic whim of nature. It usually occurs in erectile groups, and can be admired in the moon-like volcanic landscape of Bartolomé.
Pictures Galapagos – Vegetation – Flora
