Floreana Island
Floreana Island, the most mysterious and intriguing amongst the islands making up the Galapagos Archipelago, was our destination today. This relatively small island (67 square miles) was the first one to be inhabited. Pirates, whalers, early Ecuadorian colonizers, European colonizers, modern Ecuadorian colonizers: all of the above at their own time made Floreana Island their home.
Punta Cormorant is the name of the area of Floreana we visited in the afternoon, a place that is well known as a highlight for botany enthusiasts. Several beautiful and interesting endemic plant species can be observed there. Some of these plant species belong to endemic genera. Genera, plural of genus, constitute a higher classification in the plant Kingdom. In Galapagos there are only seven endemic plant genera. In Floreana you can find several of them. The beautiful plant pictured today constitutes one of these endemic genera. The wing-fruited lecocarpus (Lecocarpus pinnatifidus) is a plant that belongs to the same botanical family as daisies and sunflowers. This family is known as the Asteraceae, and all its members have compound star shaped flowers. The species pinnatifidus is found only on the arid lowlands of Floreana Island. This endemic plant has a very peculiar little fruit that has a broad wavy-edged wing or collar around the top. The latter characteristic gives the plant its common name. For plant lovers, like me, Floreana Island is a great place to be!
Floreana Island, the most mysterious and intriguing amongst the islands making up the Galapagos Archipelago, was our destination today. This relatively small island (67 square miles) was the first one to be inhabited. Pirates, whalers, early Ecuadorian colonizers, European colonizers, modern Ecuadorian colonizers: all of the above at their own time made Floreana Island their home.
Punta Cormorant is the name of the area of Floreana we visited in the afternoon, a place that is well known as a highlight for botany enthusiasts. Several beautiful and interesting endemic plant species can be observed there. Some of these plant species belong to endemic genera. Genera, plural of genus, constitute a higher classification in the plant Kingdom. In Galapagos there are only seven endemic plant genera. In Floreana you can find several of them. The beautiful plant pictured today constitutes one of these endemic genera. The wing-fruited lecocarpus (Lecocarpus pinnatifidus) is a plant that belongs to the same botanical family as daisies and sunflowers. This family is known as the Asteraceae, and all its members have compound star shaped flowers. The species pinnatifidus is found only on the arid lowlands of Floreana Island. This endemic plant has a very peculiar little fruit that has a broad wavy-edged wing or collar around the top. The latter characteristic gives the plant its common name. For plant lovers, like me, Floreana Island is a great place to be!
