PlantsMap

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10 plants worth knowing

Cuba

Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, has one of the richest island floras in the world – about 7,000 species of vascular plants, roughly half of them endemic. The original forests have largely given way to sugarcane fields and pastures, and today the lowland landscape is defined by savannas dotted with royal palms. Natural forests survive mainly in the mountains: the pine forests of Pinar del Río, the humid forests of the Sierra Maestra and Alejandro de Humboldt National Park (a UNESCO site), and among the karst towers of the Viñales Valley.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. Cuban royal palm 1

    palm · National tree of Cuba; appears on the national coat of arms

    Cuban royal palm

    Roystonea regia

    A slender white column topped with a plume of leaves – the royal palm is the national tree and an inseparable part of the Cuban landscape.
  2. White ginger lily 2

    flower · National flower of Cuba

    White ginger lily

    Hedychium coronarium

    A fragrant white flower resembling a butterfly – during the wars of independence, Cuban women smuggled secret messages inside it.
  3. Tobacco 3

    crop

    Tobacco

    Nicotiana tabacum

    Tobacco leaves from the Vuelta Abajo region are made into Havana cigars – regarded as the finest in the world.
  4. Sugarcane 4

    crop

    Sugarcane

    Saccharum officinarum

    For centuries sugarcane was the “queen” of the Cuban economy – the source of sugar and of Cuba’s famous rum.
  5. Cork palm 5

    tree

    Cork palm

    Microcycas calocoma

    A “living fossil” from the mountains of Pinar del Río – an endemic cycad that grows nowhere but Cuba.
  6. Kapok tree 6

    tree

    Kapok tree

    Ceiba pentandra

    The sacred tree of Cuban Santería – every year on 16 November people in Havana walk three times around the ceiba at El Templete.
  7. Arabica coffee 7

    crop

    Arabica coffee

    Coffea arabica

    The coffee plantations of the Sierra Maestra were founded by French refugees from Haiti – today their ruins are on the UNESCO list.
  8. West Indian mahogany 8

    tree

    West Indian mahogany

    Swietenia mahagoni

    In the 18th century Cuban mahogany was Europe’s most prized furniture wood – the material of Chippendale-style furniture.
  9. Cuban belly palm 9

    palm

    Cuban belly palm

    Colpothrinax wrightii

    An endemic palm with a “belly” – halfway up, its trunk swells like a barrel and then narrows again.
  10. Cassava 10

    crop

    Cassava

    Manihot esculenta

    Yuca con mojo – boiled cassava with garlic sauce – is a classic of the Cuban table, and casabe bread dates back to the Taíno.