gran canaria beyond the giant hotels - netzmanager.de · gran canaria is an almost circular island...
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Gran Canaria beyond the Giant Hotels
© Wolfgang Borgmann
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Köln
Wuppertal Düsseldorf
Bergheim
Flughafen Köln/Bonn
Leverkusen
Gran Canaria is an almost circular
island of approximately 45
km diameter.
It is often called a 'continent in miniature'.
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Not without good reason:
Couldn't this be the Grand Canyon?
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Doesn't this remind you of rice
terraces in Bali?
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Doesn't a Hurtigruten tour look something
like this?
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And couldn't this also be in North-West Argentina, e.g. Cerro de los Siete Colores?
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Anyway - here we are in the
southwest of the island. Large
populations of Euphorbia
balsamifera dominate the
landscape here.
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It' s strange: If this were a rare species, collectors would certainly be
willing to spend large sums of
money on such rustic specimens.
This one has a
diameter of over 2 m, looks
but much bigger in the photo.
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On this slope it is slippery in places
due to loose rocks. But the way is
worth the trouble.
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That’s because here another
succulent occurs between the
bonsai-shaped spurges, some of
them well hidden, others visible from
afar through the almost white
shoots.
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It's Ceropegia fusca.
In addition to the upright shoots,
older plants always have prostrate
shoots that take root and can
branch out again.
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The flowers in this growing place are
not completely brown, as the species name
suggests, but have a yellowish throat.
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Over seemingly endless serpenti-
nes (see title picture) we head
towards the centre of the island. But the long way is
worth it. Here the view
from Acusa Verde in direction of the
holy mountain Roque Bentayga
and Tejeda.
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Euphorbia regis-jubae reaches
exceptional sizes here. Individual
shrubs are almost 3 m high.
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Here an also extraordinary large
specimen of Senecio kleinia.
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And here is a much smaller one that stands out for its
dark bark.
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The winter was (as so often in the last
years) much too dry, and also in this case it was
only just enough for an atmospheric picture, but not for
some proper precipitation.
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Aeonium percarneum is
regularly found on sunny slopes right next to the road.
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The leaf rosettes are very
attractively coloured.
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The whitish flowers are less
noticeable.
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Also regularly found along the roads: Echium onosmifolium. It’s one of the
numerous species of bugloss that evolved in the Canary Islands.
In the background the striking Roque
Nublo.
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A view of the beautiful
mountain village Tejeda with the
Roque Bentayga.
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It is worthwhile to look up from time
to time: Rock-dwelling
succulents also like to conquer roofs,
here Aeonium percarneum (left)
and Aeonium simsii.
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The colour of this very synthetic-
looking speciality is actually of
natural origin: The pink-coloured goat's cheese was
affinated with cactus fruits!
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This is the source of the strident color: Opuntia
dillenii.
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Or was it Opuntia ficus-indica (then
of course their ripe fruits ...)?
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In a front garden a relatively young
dragon tree (Dracaena draco).
is in bloom. You don't often see
these flowers that close.
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On the north side of a wall, a rather light-shy succulent Aichryson puncta-tum (or Aichryson pachycaulon ssp.
punctatum).
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The inflorescences are richly
branched and flower over a relatively long
period.
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For a change in natural
surroundings: Aeonium simsii on
basalt rocks.
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The leaves show a fine pattern. These lines are glandular
cells.
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Aeonium simsii steps out of line
within the genus: It is the only
Aeonium species whose
inflorescences emerge laterally
instead of developing from
the centre of a leaf rosette.
(Foto © Thomas Brand)
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It occurs mainly in the zone of pine forests, both on
the drier southern sides of the
mountains and on the northern sides,
where the trade wind clouds
regularly provide more humidity.
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Here the species grows together with Aeonium
aureum (formerly known as
Greenovia aurea).
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The previous photo was taken in March. During the
following dry season the plants
change their appearance very
much.
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The outer leaves dry out and turn pink, while the
inner ones form a compact blue-green bud that
reduces evaporation.
A great colour contrast!
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The cloud forest does not only
consist of pines. Here it is chestnut
trees, densely covered with
bearded lichen.
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This zone is not permanently
fogged in. At an open place, which regularly receives sunlight, Aeonium percarneum (right)
and Aeonium undulatum grow directly next to
each other.
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The growth habit of Aeonium un-dulatum is very
special: the plants branch from the
base and one shoot grows
dominantly until flowering. After that it dies and another shoot
becomes the main shoot.
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At lower altitudes in the north of the
island - where laurel forest once
was growing - Aeonium
canariense var. virgineum is found.
The violet colouring in the heart of the leaf rosettes is not
common; I have seen it like this
only in one place.
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A typical non-succulent plant of
this vegetation zone is the Canary Island Bellflower
Canarina canariensis.
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A big advantage of the Canarian Islands is that there are no
poisonous animals. These wasps are
probably the most dangerous animals I have ever come across in all these
years.
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Finally a side trip to the northwest at Agaete. At first sight the vegeta-
tion resembles the landscapes with
Euphorbia balsamifera, which I introduced at the
beginning.
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However, here it is another spurge
species that dominates the landscape: the
leafless Euphorbia aphylla.
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The inflorescences are tiny and quite inconspicuous for
us humans. Insects - fortunately for
the species - definitely see
things differently …
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The path to the rocky outcrop is largely free of
vegetation.
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Between the boulders at the
'fat tip' (the rocky outcrop is called
Punta Gorda), however, nume-rous succulents
thrive again, in this case Euphorbia
aphylla and Euphorbia
balsamifera.
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Towards the Atlantic Ocean the
mixture is additionally
supplemented by Senecio kleinia and
Opuntia dillenii.
A gardener couldn't have
designed it more beautifully - a
fantastic place for a picnic, ...
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...at least for people who are
free from giddiness!
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And opposite, the Pico del Teide is towering on the
horizon. It's only 90 km
away - and a good 3,600 metres in
altitude …
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Comments, questions and hints are welcome, either under wolfgang. borgmann(at)gmx.net
or in the DKG forum
(https://www.kuas-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=4555&p=33169&sid=c76a2575ca87d1b527dbf694bbe7322b#p33169).