High Mountain Habitat

Introduction

Beneath 2300 meters the maximum limit for the development of forests, the high-mountain habitat begins. This kind of habitat is characterised by hot and arid summers and very cold winters, with a frequent hard frost between October and April. This habitat can be observed at Cumbres de Garafia on La Palma, but it is on mount Teide that we can find the largest development, both for extension and variety of species. Most of these plants - which are endemic and limited - have special characteristics which help them adapt to a habitat with little rain and much sun, such as the reduced dimensions of the aerial parts and the dense silvery white hairs covering them. These coenosis of the high mountains are dominated by shrubby and undershrubby legumes among which Spartocytisus sopranubianus leaves a predominant stamp to the landscape.

Other shrubby or herbaceous species of particular interest which can be observed in these areas are: Descurainia bourgeauana, Erysimum scoparium, Scrophularia glabrata, Pterocephalus lasiospermus and Nepeta teydea. In the steepest areas we find Echium wildpretii, a giant grass which, as to morphologic point of view, has great analogies with the giant herbs of the mountains in Central Africa, particularly with the arboreous Senecio and the giant Lobelia. On the most recent lava stream the white flower of Argyranthemum Tenerifae (Mount Teide daisy) catches the eye. Higher than that, beneath 2500 meters, we can observe Viola cheirantifolia (Mount Teide's violet) with beautiful violet flowers. Unfortunately, in the latest twenty years the population of the latter has become smaller owing to the building of a cableway; such cableway reaches the highest parts of the volcano and has favoured the increase of human pressure. The lava fields on Mount Teide create an interesting habitat for the protection of nature inside the European Community.

Spartocytisus

This species dominates the high areas in the mountains of the Canary Islands. It is a shrub between two and four meters high, with wide, regular, round-shaped foliage on a small trunk. The reed-like branches are slightly grooved. The trifoliate leaves are small, never longer than 2 centimeters. The white or slightly pink flowers are very scented and practically cover the upper-half part of the trunks. When ripe, its fruits are black. It is a honey-producing species.

Descurainia Bourgeauana

It is a ligneous shrub with herbaceous upright trunks of up to one meter high. The pinnatifid leaves have linear leaflets. The flowers have four yellow petals and are grouped at the end of the small branches. It is an endemic species in the highest areas of Mount Teide, common above 2000 meters.

Erysimum Scoparium

It is a small shrub with upright trunk, ligneous in the lower part and herbaceous in the upper one. The leaves are greyish owing to the close hair covering them. The flowers are violet with more or less intense hues. This plant is quite common in Tenerife and Gran Canaria between 1800 and 2200 meters altitude; it can hardly be recognised from Erysimum virescens and lives in every island but at lower altitudes, generally below 1000 meters. The only definite characters which enable us to distinguish them from one another is that, in Erysimum scoparium, the hairs are not branched, while in F. virescens they have three branches.

Scrophularia Glabrata

This small shrub has herbaceous branches with many leaves. The leaves are complete. The purple or dark red flowers are small and arranged on the upper part of the branches. Scrophularia glabrata is an endemic plant of the highest areas of the Canary Islands and can be observed in Tenerife and La Palma.

Pterocephalos Lasiopermus

This endemic plant can only be observed in Tenerife. It is a shrub, up to one meter high, with branches and leaves densely covered with silver white hairs. The flowers are more or less dark pink and are grouped in close flower-heads at the end of the highest branches.

Echium Wildpretii

It is one of the most beautiful plants among those living on the highest areas of the Canary Islands. It can be observed on Mount Teide in Tenerife, and at El Paso in La Palma. It is a giant grass with ash-green leaves, linear-lanceolate, strigose up to 40 centimeters long. When they are mature they form a rosette next to the soil - a long leaf spike up to two meters high from their centre stands. The bright red flowers are arranged in the upper part of the spike and are protected by a foliaceous bract.

Nepeta Teydea

As most of the plants living in this kind of habitat, also Nepeta teydea has a range limited to Tenerife and La Palma. Nepeta teydea is a perennial grass, densely covered with close hair, whose scape can reach one and half meters in height. The opposite leaves have a dented margin. The flowers vary from light blue to whitish and are grouped in spike-like inflorescences usually branched.

Argyranthemum Tenerifae

It is a small prostrate shrub living on the lava stream of the latest Teide's eruptions. Its flowers are white and catch the eye on the black substratum. Argyranthemum Tenerifae is an endemic plant of these areas.