Floreana offers to our visitors excellent opportunities to enjoy the fascinating flora of the arid zone of the Galapagos Islands. This zone, the most extensive of all zones in the archipelago, is encountered as we move inland from the coast. As its name implies, it is extremely dry during most of the year. Many of the plants living in this area are called deciduous. This term means that some plants can drop their leaves during the cool, dry season to reduce water loss. Shrubs are very common, many have nasty spines and thorns that form a very thick and close spacing, and due to that, to walk through certain parts of the arid zone can be a very hazardous task.
One of the most conspicuous and attractive of the plants of the arid zone is the native shrub called "Jerusalem thorn" or "Palito Verde" (Parkinsonia aculeata L..), member of the Caesalpinaceae botanical family. Their beautiful yellow flowers always capture the attention of our visitors. These flowers are a favorite nectar source for the Galapagos carpenter bee (Xilocopopa darwini), which is at the same time its main pollinator. Darwin finches take advantage of the plant as well, feeding on the flowers and leaflets. This beautiful plant may be very familiar to our visitors from the southern United States, where it has become naturalized.
