Thursday 3 February 2011

Plants

As usual, we saw many different species of plants during our stay in Lanzarote.  One of the most common families of flora were the Euphorbias.  This is a huge and extremely varied family with species resembling everything from trees to cacti.  This one, called Euphorbia aphylla, resembled both.
We are all familiar with the Poinsettias which fill our houses each Christmas and the small, yellow-green Spurges which bedevil our gardens every year and exude a white, milky sap when you pull them out.  These are all Euphorbias despite looking entirely different from these 'cacti-looking' species, this one is called Euphorbia ingens.
A large number of small bushes dotted the roadsides and looked a little more like the leafy plants we are more familiar with.  These are called Euphorbia balsamifera and make a very handsome addition to the volcanic gravels.

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