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Galápagos Islands Xeric Scrub
The Galápagos Islands xeric scrub, also known as the Galápagos Islands scrubland mosaic, is a terrestrial deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion that covers the Galápagos Islands. The Galápagos Islands are volcanic in origin, and remote from continents and other islands. The ecoregion is well known for its unique endemism, endemic species, including giant tortoises, birds, and marine iguanas, which evolved in isolation to adapt to islands' environments. Geography The Galápagos Islands lie in the Pacific Ocean, about 960 km west of the South American mainland. They are politically part of Ecuador. The Galápagos archipelago consists of 128 named islands. There are 13 islands larger than 10 km2, 19 larger than 1 km2, 42 islets smaller than 1 km2, and at least 26 emergent rocks. The total land area of the archipelago is 8032 km2. Isabela Island (Galápagos), Isabela is the largest and highest island, with an area of 4,588 km2 and reaching an elevation of 1,707 meters. The islan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Cristóbal Island
San Cristóbal Island ( es, Isla San Cristóbal) and named previously by the English as ''Chatham Island'', is the easternmost island in the Galápagos archipelago, as well as one of the oldest geologically. It is administratively part of San Cristóbal Canton, Ecuador. Its Spanish (and official Ecuadorian) name "San Cristóbal" comes from the patron saint of seafarers, St. Christopher. English speakers increasingly use that name in preference to the traditional English name of Chatham Island, derived from William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. History San Cristobal Island is composed of three or four fused volcanoes, all extinct. It is home to the oldest permanent settlement of the islands and is the island where Darwin first went ashore in 1835. A small lake called El Junco is the only source of fresh water in the islands. The availability of fresh water is what led to the early settlement of San Cristobal. A penal colony was built on San Cristóbal Island in 1880 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ipomoea Pes-caprae
''Ipomoea pes-caprae'', also known as bayhops, bay-hops, beach morning glory or goat's foot, is a common pantropical creeping vine belonging to the family Convolvulaceae. It grows on the upper parts of beaches and endures salted air. It is one of the most common and most widely distributed salt tolerant plants and provides one of the best known examples of oceanic dispersal. Its seeds float and are unaffected by salt water. Originally described by Linnaeus, it was placed in its current genus by Robert Brown in 1818. Description ''Ipomoea pes-caprae'' is a prostrate perennial, often covering large areas; stems long-trailing often several metres in length, rooting at the nodes, glabrous. It has pink, fused petals with a darker centre. The fruit is a capsule containing 4 hairy seeds that float in water. Distribution This species can be found on the sandy shores of the tropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. A similar species, ''Ipomoea imperati'', with white flowers, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia
''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word for the fruit; or paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (''O. ficus-indica''). Description ''O. ficus-indica'' is a large, trunk-forming, segmented cactus that may grow to with a crown of over in diameter and a trunk diameter of . Cladodes (large pads) are green to blue-green, bearing few spines up to or may be spineless. Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) containing large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word (''káktos''), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bursera Malacophylla
''Bursera malacophylla'' is a species of plant in the Burseraceae family. It is endemic to Ecuador, found only in the Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ..., and listed as "vulnerable." ''Bursera malacophylla'' is a tree with grayish-brown bark. Leaves are pinnately compound with 7 or 9 leaflets. line drawing of ''Bursera malacophylla'', figure 2 at lower left References [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psidium Galapageium
''Psidium galapageium'', the Galápagos guava or guayabillo, is a small tree or shrub found in tropical areas, formerly endemic to the Galápagos Islands. Description ''Psidium galapageium'' is either a small tree or shrub that ranges up to in height and up to in diameter, with smooth, pinkish-grey bark. It has wide-spreading branches with dotted grey branchlets with reddish to white or yellowish "trichomes" or hairs. The branchlets tend to become more smooth at the edges and the bark more stringy, and the terminal branchlets and leaves are sometimes covered with a scurfy reddish bloom.Duncan M. Porter (1968) ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden: Psidium (Myrtaceae) in the Galapagos Islands'' Vol. 55, No. 3, p. 368-371 Its leaves are opposite and elliptic to ovate, with the tips of the leaves being acute to acuminate. The base of the leaf is narrowly cuneate and is decurrent on the stalk of the leaf. The entire leaf is glabrous and is generally darker on the upper fac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pisonia Floribunda
''Pisonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso (1611–1678). Certain species in this genus are known as catchbirdtrees, birdcatcher trees or birdlime trees because they catch birds. The sticky seeds are postulated to be an adaptation of some island species that ensures the dispersal of seeds between islands by attaching them to birds, and also allows the enriching of coralline sands. (Should a fledgling fall to the ground, become entangled in the ''Pisonia'' sticky seeds, and be unable to free itself, then it will starve, and so enrich the soil within the tree's rootzone.) These island species include '' P. brunoniana'' of Australasia and Polynesia and '' P. umbellifera'', which is widespread in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. Species *''Pisonia aculeata'' L. – pullback (pantropical) *''Pisonia alba'' Span. *''Pisonia albida'' (Heimerl) Britton ex Standl. – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bursera Graveolens
''Bursera graveolens'', known in Spanish as ("Holy Stick”), is a wild tree native from the Yucatán Peninsula to Peru and Venezuela. ''Bursera'' ''graveolens'' is found in the seasonally dry tropical forests of Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador,, and on the Galápagos Islands. The tree belongs to the same family (Burseraceae) as frankincense and myrrh. It is widely used in ritual purification and as folk medicine for stomach ache, as a sudorific, and as liniment for rheumatism. Aged heartwood is rich in terpenes such as limonene and α-terpineol. Conservation In 2006, the government of Peru listed ''Bursera graveolens'' as "In Critical Danger" (En Peligro Critico (CR)) under Decree 043-2006-AG, banning the cutting of live trees and allowing only for the collection of naturally fallen or dead trees. However, in 2014, it was removed from the SERFOR (National Forest and Wildlife Service) list of protected sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conocarpus Erectus
''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Range Locations it is known from include Florida, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Central and South America from Mexico to Brazil on the Atlantic Coast and Mexico to Ecuador on the Pacific Coast, western Africa and in Melanesia and Polynesia. It was introduced in Kuwait because it can thrive in high temperatures and absorbs brackish water. Description ''Conocarpus erectus'' is usually a dense multiple-trunked shrub, tall, but can grow into a tree up to or more tall, with a trunk up to in diameter. The United States National Champion green buttonwood is tall, has a spread of , and a circumference of . The bark is thick and has broad plates of thin scales which are gray to brown. The twigs are brittle, and angled or narrowly winged in cross-section. The leaves are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laguncularia Racemosa
''Laguncularia racemosa'', the white mangrove, is a species of flowering plant in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda and Florida to the Bahamas, Mexico, the Caribbean, and south to Brazil; and on the Pacific Coast of the Americas from Mexico to northwestern Peru, including the Galápagos Islands. It is a mangrove tree, growing to tall. The bark is gray-brown or reddish, and rough and fissured. Pneumatophores and/or prop roots may be present, depending on environmental conditions. The leaves are opposite, elliptical, long, and broad, rounded at both ends, entire, smooth, leathery in texture, slightly fleshy, without visible veins, and yellow-green in color. The petiole is stout, reddish, and long, with two small glands near the blade that exude sugars. The white, bell-shaped flowers are mostly bisexual and about long. The fruit is a reddish-brown dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avicennia Germinans
''Avicennia germinans'', the black mangrove, is a shrub or small tree growing up to 12 meters (39 feet) in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and on the Atlantic Coast of tropical Africa, where it thrives on the sandy and muddy shores where seawater reaches. It is common throughout coastal areas of Texas and Florida, and ranges as far north as southern Louisiana and coastal Georgia in the United States. Like many other mangrove species, it reproduces by vivipary. Seeds are encased in a fruit, which reveals the germinated seedling when it falls into the water. Unlike other mangrove species, it does not grow on prop roots, but possesses pneumatophores that allow its roots to breathe even when submerged. It is a hardy species and expels absorbed salt mainly from its leathery leaves. The name "black mangrove" refers to the color of the trunk and heartwood. The leaves often appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhizophora Mangle
''Rhizophora mangle'', the red mangrove, is distributed in Estuary, estuarine ecosystems throughout the tropics. Its Vivipary, viviparous "seeds", in actuality called propagules, become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. These are dispersed by water until eventually embedding in the shallows. ''Rhizophora mangle'' grows on Aerial root#Aerial roots as supports, aerial prop roots, which arch above the water level, giving stands of this tree the characteristic "mangrove" appearance. It is a valuable plant in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas coastal ecosystems. In its native habitat it is threatened by invasive species such as the Brazilian pepper tree ''(Schinus terebinthifolius)''. The red mangrove itself is considered an invasive species in some locations, such as Hawaii, where it forms dense, monoculture, monospecific thickets. ''R. mangle'' thickets, however, provide nesting and hunting habitat for a diverse array of organisms, including fish, birds, and cro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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