Socotra island is a very rich place in plants life. With a total of 835 plant species, 308 arr endemic. According to the many botanical surveys that have been conducted on the island, Socotra is home to nearly 1000 different plant species, of which about a third are found nowhere else on earth. New ones are regularly discovered, and other still remain to be described.
The islands have a diverse geology and climate that varies between areas.Because of such high diversity and endemism in plants, the islands have been declared a WWF Global 200 Ecoregion, a plant life International Center of plant Diversity. These are added to designation of UNESCO world Heritage site and UNESCO Man Biosphere Reserve.
There are many endemic species that are famous and remarkable both to botanists and keen amateurs a like. The Dragon’s blood trees (Dracaena Cinnabari) is named after the blood-red sap that exudes from the trunk when cut. This has been used traditionally as a medicine and cosmetic. The tress are slow-growing and long-lived(possibly a few hundred years) and in maturity the crowns have an upside-down umbrella shape.
Socotra can be seen as a sanctuary of life forms that might once have been present in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa and remain only there nowadays, evolving in their very own way.
Some of the best place we will show you to admire some of these rare endemic plants are Skand, Ayhaft canyon, and Diksam
