Tiquilia--Not to be Confused with Tequila!

It's time to continue our series on species found in the Galapagos. Now that we've taken care of the animals, we're ready to move onto Ecuadorian flora!

Tiquilia nesiotica, courtesy of Wikipedia!

Next, we have the plant genus Tiquilia. No, Tiquilia is not related to tequila; tequila comes from the blue agave plant, or Agave tequilana. The genus Tiquilia refers to 27 different plant species known by the common name crinklemat. The crinklemat is a flowering plant that is part of the Forget-me-not family, or the borage family. The different crinklemats are all found in the Western hemisphere, and almost all are found in arid or desert regions. So far as I have been able to tell, 4 of the Tiquilia species are found in the Galapagos. They are Tiquilia darwinii, fusca, galapagoa, and nesiotica. All 4 are endemic to the islands. The first three species are quite common, being found on all or almost all of the islands. Only the Tiquilia nesiotica is rare; because it is only found on Santiago, its IUCN status is listed as vulnerable. You'd think that there would be a lot of information out about a plant that sounds like an alcohol, but there isn't. All you can see for now is that it is a hardy brush/scrub that survives in dry places with lots of brown and little green. There aren't an abundance of pictures either, so I had to rip off either Wikipedia or some personal photo collections.

Next time, we'll discuss a biological term extremely relevant to the Galapagos...endemism. 75% done!

Genus Tiquilia
Tiquilia Darwinii
Tiquilia Fusca
Tiquilia Galapagoa
Tiquilia Nesiotica