Malpais de Guimar

Students seeking their next quadrat. CC license photo by Rhiannon

As you toil along the winding path at Guimar you will soon start to realise how hardy the plants must be to survive here. The sun beats down on you furiously, the coastal breeze whips round you and leaves salt crystals on your skin. You look at your water bottle and start to wish you'd brought some more. Plus the condition of the ground off the path is ankle-breaking - just unrelenting lumps of lava with barely anything describable as soil in sight. How does anything grow? Yet this coastal area is home to a huge range of species. It may not have been appreciated in the past - it's called 'Malpais de Guimar' - the badlands, and many similar areas must have been flattened to build modern Tenerifean towns and for agriculture. However this place is now protected, a Reserva Natural Especial.

I love the strange plants here, especially the huge cardón euphobias and the otherworldly Ceropegia fusca.

You can see all the species together on this page.

Euphorbia with ancient lava cone in background © Rhiannon 2012