Canary flora: species. Cacti and succulents in the Canary Islands. Flowers of the Canary Islands.

Species

Monanthes brachycaulos

   The Canary Islands boast an extraordinary wealth of flora, making them one of the world’s leading biogeographical regions and the leading one in Spain, both in terms of the high number of species and their origin, variety, ecological range and evolutionary process, which is still in full swing.
    The vascular flora of the Canary Islands comprises around 2,400–2,500 species, of which around 700 are endemic, some 100 are shared with other Macaronesian archipelagos, such as the Azores or Madeira, and around 600 are of Mediterranean-African origin, with the remainder being introduced species.
    However, the slow but steady deterioration of natural habitats, the indiscriminate use of many of these species by humans, and the major changes the Islands’ natural environment has undergone in recent times have had a negative impact on this remarkable flora, resulting in at least four species being considered extinct, some 120 being endangered, and many others falling into the ‘rare’ or ‘vulnerable’ categories.
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