This Cadaba insularis is able to hold on to life by growing entangled with a Lycium sokotranum. Lycium sokotranum is also very popular with goats, so here two species are struggling to grow. The trunk has been forced to the ground, and has every since kept all the shoots down, and never reaching to the hight where it is safe from the goats. Unprotected it will look like this individual nearby.
Were it not for the goats it would have grown to a medium sized tree, with a lifespan of several hundred years!
Cadaba insularis is very slow-growing, and thus the wood is heavy and hard. Excellent building material, but on an island any given species will very quickly go extinct if there is no consideration for the natural world. In past years of drought locals have used them for fodder as well, so this species has been hit very hard.
There are less than 20 individuals known in the wild, and unfortunately there is so far no success in procreation. For now this species has not given us the understanding needed to make seeds germinate or for cuttings to grow, like the Boswellias do. One day, hopefully, we will break the code and save it from extinction.
It is endemic to Socotra.
Elevation: 16 meters.
Last updated on 8 November 2024
