Santa Cruz Island
The Galapagos Archipelago is one of the most fascinating places on Earth to understand evolution and its connotations. In 1835, the famous naturalist Charles Darwin made a five-week visit to Galapagos. While working as a naturalist on HMS Beagle, he made extraordinary observations that would eventually contribute to his theory of the origin of species by means of natural selection. This theory still causes impact and influence on our actual interpretation of many fields in science. Many years after Darwin’s visit, this remarkable group of islands is often appropriately called “a living laboratory of evolution”. He made several famous observations, amongst which, for example, the variation that exists among the shells of the giant tortoises that inhabit the different islands and the fact that the Galapagos finch species have very different beak shapes (so different that he did not even realize all members belonged to the same family until it was pointed out to him on his return to England!). What most people do not know is that Charles Darwin collected a sample of every plant that he observed flowering on the islands he visited. Following his writings, we guess that Darwin was not very fond of plants, he was certainly more interested in the geological characteristics of the archipelago. He appears to be unimpressed by his plant collection, describing the flora of San Cristóbal Island, as “wretched-looking little weeds” (Darwin 1845). Nonetheless, Darwin’s collection amounted to 173 different plants, many of which were new to science! (Porter, 1980).
The beautiful plant shown in today’s picture is the thin-leafed Darwin’s shrub (Darwiniothamnus tenuifolius). This plant genus belongs to the Asteraceae, or sunflower and daisy family, and is endemic to several major islands in the archipelago. Today while visiting the highlands of Santa Cruz it was a grateful surprise for me to find some of these plants blooming. The flowers of this plant are very small (1cm in diameter) but beautiful and with a soft sweet odor. Leaves have a pleasant smell when crushed. However prolonged contact with the dried fruits and flowers has been known to cause sneezing and watery eyes in some individuals (Mc.Mullen, 1999). The thin-leafed Darwin’s shrub is not only beautiful but also highly interesting for botany. Just seven Galapagos flowering plant groups have been isolated long enough to constitute endemic genera. Darwiniothamnus is one of these seven genera, therefore the plant I dedicate today’s report to is endemic not only at the species level but at a higher level, that of genus. Darwin collected this plant during his visit, the Latin name of the genera Darwiniothamnus, literally means Darwin’s shrub.
The Galapagos Archipelago is one of the most fascinating places on Earth to understand evolution and its connotations. In 1835, the famous naturalist Charles Darwin made a five-week visit to Galapagos. While working as a naturalist on HMS Beagle, he made extraordinary observations that would eventually contribute to his theory of the origin of species by means of natural selection. This theory still causes impact and influence on our actual interpretation of many fields in science. Many years after Darwin’s visit, this remarkable group of islands is often appropriately called “a living laboratory of evolution”. He made several famous observations, amongst which, for example, the variation that exists among the shells of the giant tortoises that inhabit the different islands and the fact that the Galapagos finch species have very different beak shapes (so different that he did not even realize all members belonged to the same family until it was pointed out to him on his return to England!). What most people do not know is that Charles Darwin collected a sample of every plant that he observed flowering on the islands he visited. Following his writings, we guess that Darwin was not very fond of plants, he was certainly more interested in the geological characteristics of the archipelago. He appears to be unimpressed by his plant collection, describing the flora of San Cristóbal Island, as “wretched-looking little weeds” (Darwin 1845). Nonetheless, Darwin’s collection amounted to 173 different plants, many of which were new to science! (Porter, 1980).
The beautiful plant shown in today’s picture is the thin-leafed Darwin’s shrub (Darwiniothamnus tenuifolius). This plant genus belongs to the Asteraceae, or sunflower and daisy family, and is endemic to several major islands in the archipelago. Today while visiting the highlands of Santa Cruz it was a grateful surprise for me to find some of these plants blooming. The flowers of this plant are very small (1cm in diameter) but beautiful and with a soft sweet odor. Leaves have a pleasant smell when crushed. However prolonged contact with the dried fruits and flowers has been known to cause sneezing and watery eyes in some individuals (Mc.Mullen, 1999). The thin-leafed Darwin’s shrub is not only beautiful but also highly interesting for botany. Just seven Galapagos flowering plant groups have been isolated long enough to constitute endemic genera. Darwiniothamnus is one of these seven genera, therefore the plant I dedicate today’s report to is endemic not only at the species level but at a higher level, that of genus. Darwin collected this plant during his visit, the Latin name of the genera Darwiniothamnus, literally means Darwin’s shrub.
