Just by coincidence, I seem to be listing these Canary natives in order of rarity. This evergreen shrub with silky leaves and bright yellow flowers from February to April is possibly the rarest plant I have ever seen. It is native to just a small area in the north of Gran Canaria and only about a dozen plants are known in the wild and it is thought that there are more plants in the Botanic garden at Tafira than anywhere in the wild. This seems amazing and just shows that plant conservation is not all about the rain forest. Here we have a plant that is critically endangered and it is on an island that is a prime tourist destination for Europeans. I do not think, however, that the impact of tourism is to blame in this case since the habitat is in the relatively ‘unspoilt’ area around De Pino Santo.

The plant habit and the way the flowers are produced on short stems from the upper ends of the previous year’s growth reminds me a lot of Cytisus battandieri but I could not detect any fragrance. This is another plant that surely has some fu

De Pino Santo, Gran Canaria, teline nervosa