Flora Canaria

An online guide to Canary Islands plant life

Flora Canaria is a website devoted to sharing information about the flora and vegetation of the Canary Islands. It is an informational resource rather than a commercial business, bringing together material on the archipelago’s botanical diversity.

What the site covers

The website organizes information about:

• The islands’ ecosystems
• Botanical families
• Native, endemic, and introduced species
• Fungi
• Cacti
• Orchids
• Botanical gardens
• Natural areas
• Illustrations and macro photography

Figures on Canary Islands flora

According to figures presented on the site, the Canary Islands have roughly 2,400 to 2,500 vascular plant species, about 700 of them endemic. Around 100 species are also found in other Macaronesian archipelagos such as the Azores and Madeira, and about 600 are of Mediterranean–African origin. The remaining species are introduced.

The site gives the following approximate figures by island: Tenerife has about 1,470 wild species, including 300 endemics; Gran Canaria, 1,300 species and 215 endemics; La Palma and La Gomera, 900 species and 200 endemics each; El Hierro, 700 species and 120 endemics; Fuerteventura, 750 species and 78 endemics; and Lanzarote, 700 species and 70 endemics.

It also reports that at least four species are considered extinct, around 120 are endangered, and many others are rare or vulnerable.

Source and scope

The material is published by floracanaria.com, which presents itself as a guide to the flora of the Canary Islands.