Rosa de Bayahibe

A cactus with true leaves and pink flowers like a wild rose – a critically endangered endemic and the national flower since 2011.

A shrubby cactus growing to several metres tall which – unlike most cacti – has ordinary, fleshy green leaves, along with long spines on its stems. It bears large pink flowers resembling those of a wild rose, hence its Spanish name. It belongs to a group of primitive “leafy” cacti formerly placed in the genus Pereskia. In the wild it grows only in dry coastal forest on limestone in the south-east of the island, and very few wild plants survive.

Significance in the country

The plant was not described scientifically until 1977, and in 2011 it was declared the national flower by law to draw attention to the protection of this unique Dominican endemic; today it is widely planted in gardens and parks.

Where it grows

In the wild only around Bayahibe in La Altagracia Province, on the edge of the National Park of the East (Parque del Este); elsewhere planted as an ornamental in various parts of the country.

More: Wikipedia (en)