FLORA

Cuba touts the most impressive species diversity of any Caribbean island.

Coastal mangrove and wet land preserves, dry forest, scrubby pine forest, pockets of rain forest and even montane cloud forest, almost desert-dry terrain supporting cacti, and other wild places are strewn like isles within an isle.

It boasts more than 6,700 higher-plants species, of which some 3,180 are endemic and about 950 are endangered.

The indisputable symbol of Cuba is the Rostonea regia, the majestic royal palm (Palma Real in Spanish), which grows singly or in great elegant clumps and graces the Cuban capital at every turn. Its smooth gray trunk, which can tower 25 meters, resembles a great marble column with a curious bulge near the top. Long leaves droop sinuously from the explosive top, blossoming afresh with each new moon.

 

 

Cuban National Flower is the brilliant white, heady-scented mariposa, a native species of jasmine that became a symbol of rebellion and purity at the time of the independence wars.

Both, forests and grasslands, flare with color, some flamboyantly. Begonias, anthuriums, "Indian laburnum," oleander, and poinsettia are common, as are the sensitive mimosa, hibiscus, blossoming hydrangea, bright pink morning glory, and bougainvillea in its rainbow assortment of riotous colors.

Impossible not to mention fruit trees, indigenous and exotic woody species, orchids and other epiphyte species, water hyacinths with the white and purple blooms crowding the freshwater lakes, the brilliant scarlet Cupid's tears, among others.