Saint Helena is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory.
The Saint Helena scrub and woodlands ecoregion covers the volcanic island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. The island's remote location gave rise to many endemic species. First discovered and settled in the 1500s, the island has been degraded by human activities. Most of its native habitat has been destroyed, and many of its unique plants and animals are extinct or endangered.
The Saint Helena earwig or Saint Helena giant earwig is an extinct species of very large earwig endemic to the oceanic island of Saint Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean.
Vaccinium arboreum is a species of Vaccinium native to the southeastern and south-central United States, from southern Virginia west to southeastern Nebraska, south to Florida and eastern Texas, and north to Illinois.
The Saint Helena hoopoe, also known as the Saint Helena giant hoopoe or giant hoopoe, is an extinct species of hoopoe known exclusively from an incomplete subfossil skeleton. Once endemic to the island of Saint Helena, it was last seen around 1550, likely driven to extinction by various aspects of human activity.
The Saint Helena crake is an extinct bird species from the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, one of two flightless rails which survived there until the early 16th century.
The Saint Helena olive is an extinct species of flowering plant. It is the only member of the genus Nesiota. It was endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Despite its name, it is unrelated to the true olive, but is instead a member of the family Rhamnaceae, the family which contains buckthorns and jujube. The last remaining tree in the wild died in 1994, and the last remaining individual in cultivation died in December 2003, despite conservation efforts. It is thus a prime example of recent plant extinction. The Saint Helena olive belongs to the tribe Phyliceae, which are mostly endemic to Southern Africa.
Pladaroxylon is a genus of trees in the tribe Senecioneae within the family Asteraceae.
The flora of Saint Helena, an isolated island in the South Atlantic Ocean, is exceptional in its high level of endemism and the severe threats facing the survival of the flora. In phytogeography, it is in the phytochorion St. Helena and Ascension Region of the African Subkingdom, in the Paleotropical Kingdom.
Trochetiopsis erythroxylon, the Saint Helena redwood, is a species of plant, now extinct in the wild. It was formerly abundant enough in the upland parts of the island of Saint Helena for early settlers in the 17th century to use the timber to make their homes. It became extinct in the 1950s due to deforestation as its habitat was cleared to make way for pasture, timber and fuel.
Trochetiopsis ebenus, the dwarf ebony or Saint Helena ebony, is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is not related to the ebony of commerce, but is instead a member of the mallow family, Malvaceae. Saint Helena ebony is now critically endangered in the wild, being reduced to two wild individuals on a cliff, but old roots are sometimes found washed out of eroding slopes. These are collected on the island and used for inlay work, an important craft on Saint Helena. A related species, Trochetiopsis melanoxylon, is now completely extinct.
Commidendrum is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Asteraceae endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. The vernacular name is gumwood or scrubwood.
Wahlenbergia roxburghii, the Roxburgh bellflower or dwarf cabbage tree, is an extinct member of a group of four species of Wahlenbergia once known from the island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was last seen by naturalist John Charles Melliss in 1872. William Roxburgh recorded it in the thick forests on the south face of Diana's Peak. De Candolle notes it in dense woods around Diana's Peak and Halley's Mount. Burchell notes it 'On Sandy Bay ridge near Taylor's. Flowering: probably August to March. It was exceedingly rare in Meliss's time, it is not in his book as he had not found it. It was probably the increase of Phormium tenax planting on the ridge that pushed Wahlenbergia roxburghii into final extinction. It is an example of one of the early extinctions of Saint Helena plants as a result of human activity, with a history similar to that of the stringwood, .
Commidendrum robustum, the Saint Helena gumwood, is a species of tree endemic to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Though it is now comparatively rare, it was once one of the most abundant trees of mid-elevations of the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. A small tree to 7–8 m, it was cut extensively for fuel in the early years of settlement of the island by the English East India Company. It has given its name to certain placenames on the island such as "Gumwoods". It is one of several species in the endemic genus Commidendrum.
Mellissia was formerly a monotypic genus in the family Solanaceae with the single species, Mellissia begoniifolia, endemic to the island of Saint Helena. It was named by Joseph Dalton Hooker in honour of John Charles Melliss, a 19th-century engineer and amateur naturalist who worked on Saint Helena.
John Charles Melliss was a British engineer and amateur naturalist. He lived in St. Helena and wrote a book on the geology, history and geography of the island in 1875. He also wrote on the natural history of the island. J.D. Hooker named the genus Mellissia in his honour.
Lachanodes is a genus of plants in the groundsel tribe of the sunflower family. The plants are native to certain islands in the South Atlantic.
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 960 miles (1,540 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 800 miles (1,300 km) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle.
Homoeosoma privata is a species of snout moth in the genus Homoeosoma. It was described by Francis Walker in 1875 and is known from St. Helena.
The silver eel, also known as the Melliss's conger, is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by Albert Günther in 1870. It is a rare tropical, marine eel which is known solely from St. Helena, in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is known to dwell at a maximum depth of 67 meters. Males can reach a maximum total length of 42.8 centimetres.
