Libinhania rosulata

As the island of Socotra is basically one big goat farm, there are very few plants that are not consumed, or at least stunted by their browsing. Several plant species are venomous while others emit sticky or foul tasting juice.

This species has no such defense and is eaten by goats. Thus I was looking for an intact specimen for quite some time, until I found this libinhania rosulata all out in the open on some boulders. I wonder why the goats had left this alone when it is so easily available? It didn’t have signs of grazing since the last growth cycle, so this was strange, but very pleasing to me as I could take a closer look.

Endemic.