Justicia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae. It is the largest genus within the family, encompassing around 700 species with hundreds more as yet unresolved. They are native to tropical to warm temperate regions of the Americas, India and Africa. The genus serves as host to many butterfly species, such as Anartia fatima. Common names include water-willow and shrimp plant, the latter from the inflorescences, which resemble a shrimp in some species. The generic name honours Scottish horticulturist James Justice (1698–1763). They are closely related to Pachystachys.
Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean. There are about 26 species in the genus, ranging in size from understorey shrubs with subterranean stems to subcanopy trees as tall as 20 metres (66 ft). Most have pinnately compound leaves ; one species has entire leaves. Stems, leaves and sometimes even the fruit are covered with spines. Plants flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan and have separate male and female flowers, although these are borne together on the same inflorescence. Although records of pollinators are limited, most species appear to be pollinated by insects. The fruit are eaten by several birds and mammals, including at least two species of amazon parrots.
Podocarpus trinitensis is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago, where it has only been recorded from the island of Trinidad. It has been recorded from 13 distinct localities in Trinidad, including sites in the Central Range and in central and eastern areas of the Northern Range.
Naufraga balearica is an extremely species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, and the only species in the monotypic genus Naufraga. It is endemic to the Spanish island of Majorca, where it is found only at the base of cliffs at the north of the island near Pollença. A population was discovered on Corsica in 1981, but it had died out by 1983, and it is not clear whether it arrived naturally. Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and rocky shores.
Ficus amazonica is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is found in Brazil, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Roupala is a Neotropical genus of woody shrubs and trees in the plant family Proteaceae. Its 34 species are generally found in forests from sea level to 4000 m altitude from Mexico to Argentina.
Shorea flaviflora is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is endemic to Borneo.
The endemic flora of Trinidad and Tobago includes a total of 59 species of vascular plants belonging to 34 plant families. This is less than 3% of the total vascular plant flora of Trinidad and Tobago. Thirty-nine of these species are endemic to Trinidad, 12 are Tobagonian endemics, and six are present on both islands.
Dicliptera aripoensis is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae which is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago. The species is only known from the Heights of Aripo, in Trinidad's Northern Range. It is a branching shrub, 1–1.5 m tall with red flowers about 3 cm long.
Justicia tobagensis is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae which is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago. The species is only known from two areas in the Main Ridge of Tobago. It was first described as Drejerella tobagensis by German botanist Ignatz Urban in his Symbolae Antillanae, based on a collection made by Danish botanist Henrik von Eggers
Odontonema brevipes is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae which is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago. The species is only known from four localities in the Main Ridge of Tobago. It was described by German botanist Ignatz Urban in his Symbolae Antillanae, based on collections made by Danish botanist Henrik von Eggers and English-born Trinidadian botanist Walter Elias Broadway.
Aristolochia boosii is a species of woody vine in the Aristolochiaceae plant family which is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago. Known only from a few locations in southern Trinidad, the species was first collected by Julius Boos in 1977. After determining that it was new to science, the species was described by Jacqueline Anne Panter in 1981 and named for its discoverer.
The environment of Trinidad and Tobago reflects the interaction between its biotic diversity, high population density, and industrialised economy.
Caliphruria is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family The four species grow in tropical areas of South America, with three endemic to Colombia, but are rare in the wild. This genus is closely related with the genera Eucharis and Urceolina, all of them known colloquially as "Amazon Lilies".
Duguetia tobagensis is a small tree in the plant family Annonaceae which is endemic to Trinidad and Tobago. The species is only known from Tobago.
Abutilon pitcairnense, the yellow fatu or yellow fautu, is a critically endangered perennial plant that is native to Pitcairn Island. It was once considered extinct, until a single plant was discovered on the island in 2003. At that time, cuttings and seed were used to propagate several plants at a nursery on the island and botanical gardens in Ireland and England. The last wild surviving plant died in a landslide in 2005, making the plant extinct in the wild.
Marthella is a genus of flowering plants in the Burmanniaceae, first described as a genus in 1903. It contains only one known species, Marthella trinitatis, endemic to the Island of Trinidad. It is considered critically endangered and only naturally appears in Northern Range Forest Reserve Section B. As a conservation measure, it is being cared for in the Heights of Aripo Village as a form of ex situ conservation.
Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) is a programme established by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2015 in collaboration with Plantlife International, to provide a framework to identify sites important for preserving plant diversity in tropical countries. The programme is based on the Important Plant Areas (IPAs) framework set up by Plantlife International. The IPA criteria were modified to take into account the high plant richness, the limited availability of data and the higher dependence on socio-economically important yet native plants for livelihoods in the tropics. The framework acknowledges the practical problems of gathering plant and habitat data in many regions of the world, and it recognises the important role of peer reviewed expert opinion in the selection process. TIPAs can be identified based on a range of organism groups within the plant and fungal kingdoms, including algae, fungi, lichens, liverworts, mosses, and wild vascular plants. The TIPAs programme focuses on critical sites for wild plant populations. It aims to identify areas important for the conservation of threatened plants and/or habitats and areas with exceptional plant richness, and to raise awareness of the importance of plant life in tropical countries, encouraging long term conservation of these areas. TIPA sites are selected based on three criteria:
Protea vogtsiae, also known as the Kouga sugarbush, is a small flowering shrub of the genus Protea within the family Proteaceae, which is only found growing in the wild in the southern Cape Region of South Africa.
Protea decurrens, also known as linear-leaf sugarbush, is a shrub of the genus Protea, in the Proteaceae family, which is endemic to the southwestern Cape Region of South Africa. It is a small shrub with a thick underground rootstock, this structure throwing up numerous leafy branches, upon the base of which clusters of flower heads may appear close to the ground. It is pollinated by rodents and grows in low-altitude fynbos or renosterveld.
