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Cacti and Succulents in Tenerife |
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Written by Steve Andrews
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Anyone who lives on or who visits Tenerife is sure to see an incredible range of cacti and succulents growing wild and in parks and gardens around the island, and of these many of the wild species of succulents are endemics found nowhere else but in the Canary Islands.
Other species like the prickly pear cacti were introduced accidentally after being grown as crops for cochineal and food production. The two species of Prickly Pear you are likely to see are Opuntia dillenii, which has larger spines, yellow flowers and maroon-purple fruits, and Opuntia ficus-barbarica, which has reddish-orange flowers, shorter spines and more prickly green fruits, which turn yellowish and reddish as they ripen. The first species is more often found in the southern areas, especially on the rough coastal ground of Tenerife.
 There are also Cholla cactus species (Opuntia spp.), which have the worst spines of all and are covered all over in long ones that will very easily hurt you and are best avoided. This cactus has jointed stems that break off readily and take root wherever they fall in Tenerife and this is how the plant gets spread about. The Prickly Pears are from Mexico and Cholla cacti are found in the deserts of southwestern America.
 There are no native cacti in the Canary Islands but many other species are grown in parks and gardens and often reach very large proportions.
Of the succulents, the Houseleeks (Aeonium spp.) are a very large group and these plants often grow on rooftops and in cracks in walls as well as on cliffs, rock-faces and rough ground all over the island of Tenerife. Aeonium urbicum is one of the commonest species and has pinkish or greenish-white flowers in spring that are carried in a spectacular cone-shaped flower head that rises up above the rosette of succulent leaves.
The Golden Houseleek (A. holochrysum) is a common succulent in the north of Tenerife and bears golden yellow flowers in early spring. It can often be seen along roadsides and sometimes will grow on rooftops. Known in Spanish as Lapa, A. tabulaeforme is a species found in the northwest of Tenerife and is a curious and unmistakeable succulent that grows as flat rosette of leaves that lies flattened against the stone of a cliff-face or wall and reaches some 30-40cm across.
Another very large group of plants, which has many succulent and cactus-form varieties on Tenerife, is the spurge family or Euphorbiaceae. Whist many Euphorbia species look like ordinary plants others have succulent stems resembling cacti and with spines as protection, whilst others form bushes with succulent stems and rosettes of short-lived leaves and flowers and the end of the stems and branches. All species of Euphorbia have a poisonous white latex juice if broken or cut, and this is one way of identifying that they are in this family.
 Cardón (Euphorbia canariensis) is a tall cactus-like endemic species that has four or five-sided stems with spines along the edges and purplish-brown seed-capsules carried at the tops of the stems. Cardón grows all over the island of Tenerife on waste ground, cliffs, crags and in rough ground near the sea. Because of its highly ornamental value, Cardón is often grown in gardens and shrub borders on Tenerife.
The Sweet Spurge (E. balsamifera) or Tabaiba dulce, as it is known in Spanish, is another very common species all over Tenerife and grows in the most arid, hot and rocky areas, where in summer it often drops its leaves and survives as a gnarled and woody semi-succulent-stemmed bush. It has ornamental value and is often planted in gardens of Tenerife too. The Sweet Spurge is actually the official plant symbol of the neighbouring island of Lanzarote.
The Canary Candle Shrub (Kleinia neriifolia), or Verode or Verol in Spanish, is another unmistakeable and strange succulent that is native to the islands and found commonly on Tenerife. It has succulent jointed stems that form small bushes up to 3 meters in height and topped in autumn and winter with bluish-green leaves and pale yellow tufted flowers that later form wind-blown fluffy seeds. The Canary Candle Shrub is a medicinal herb of Tenerife that is used to heal wounds and as a traditional remedy for the corrosive juice of the Cardón.
 The Cardoncillo (Ceropegia fusca) is actually a member of the Milkweed family, but for most of the year it grows as long cylindrical greyish-green succulent stems of over a metre in length but usually shorter, which carry clusters of brownish-red flowers in late spring. Cardoncillo is a plant of the south of Tenerife and grows in the dry and rocky coastal areas. The seeds are fluffy to be carried by the wind and are carried in a brown two-beaked seedpod, which has each of its parts up to 10cm long and looks much bigger than the small flowers that preceded it.
Tenerife with its semi-tropěcal and tropical temperatures and its arid volcanic ground as well as its rocky cliffs and barrancos is an ideal place for succulent plants to have evolved. Tenerife is also perfect for gardeners who enjoy growing the fascinating cacti and succulents of the world.
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Tenerife Island 
