A Scottish Tajinaste - from Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife to the banks of the River Esk.

     Well, perhaps! 

     This is not a tale about a bold and fearsome Highlander. Quite the contrary. It is simply a way of paying a small tribute to a gentle and beautiful species of plant which is endemic to the Canary Island of Tenerife.

     Visitors to the landscapes of Las Cañadas, at the base of Mount Teide, are always stunned by the natural park's spectacular extraterrestrial scenery, by the sharp, black obsidian sparkling in the sunlight, by the turquoise hydrothermal sub-volcanic rocks painting abstract works of volcanic art, by the extraordinary array of lavatic colours, or by the pumice dunes which were once mined by an Anglo-French company.  

The San José mines, another planet in Tenerife

 

Like abstract volcanic art

     However, if one is lucky enough to be in Tenerife during the late spring and early summer one will also be greeted by the splendid sight of Echium Wildpretii. This biennial wonder stands out against the harsh, black, red and brown lava flows in regimental groups on the hillsides above sedimentary deserts, or in the Ucanca plain like the one pictured below, or even on their own, protected by phonolite towers at the base of Mount Teide volcano.

A tower of jewels in the Ucanca plain, with Mt Teide behind

A cluster of Echium wildpretii with a dense mist creeping across the caldera

     One of the theories behind the name tajinaste is that it derives from a pre-Hispanic indigenous word, tainast, meaning “needle”. When the basal rosette suddenly shoots up to produce the amazing “tower of jewels”, it certainly looks like a giant needle. The silver sheen on the velvety leaves add an exotic touch to the echium, even before producing hundreds of scarlet red flowers right up to their spiked tips.

 

The echium's rosette, like a creature from another planet

     Until I read an article in The Scotsman newspaper in June 2000, I always thought this extraordinary plant could only be found in the high, arid and volcanic landscapes of Tenerife and La Palma. However, The Scotsman reported that a five foot tall Echium Wildpretii was flourishing at Inveresk Lodge Garden which is just south of Musselburgh. In fact, that particular plant had been grown from seed at Tresco Abbey on the Scilly Isles, where the climate allows a variety of tropical plants to flourish. Now I understand that this “Tower of Jewels”, as it has become known by horticulturists, can be found not only in the Canary Islands and Scotland but throughout the world, if planted in well drained, not very rich soils, and that its cousins, the blue Echium candicans and Echium fastuosum, also known as The Pride of Madeira, do well in New Zealand. 

     Two more specie of Echium are pictured below. The top image shows a pair of Echium simplex under the beautiful dragon tree inside the small botanical garden behind the town hall in the town of La Orotava. The second image is of one of my favourites, the Echium virescens, this cluster captured inside the pine forests at Aguamansa.

Above, Echium simplex and below, the Echium virescens

     Nevertheless, the Tower of Jewels was given the specific “Widpretii” epithet in honour of Hermann Joseph Wildpret, a Swiss-German botanist who became principal gardener at the famous Botanical Gardens in Puerto de la Cruz on the island of Tenerife in 1860.

     Wildpret is believed to have sent Kew Gardens Tajinaste seeds, which the plant produces in small capsules after the flowering phase. From Kew, seeds were sent all over the world. The name Echium possibly stems from the Greek echis, meaning “viper”, perhaps due to what some researchers suggest was an ancient belief that the echium vulgare could be used as an antidote if bitten by an Adder. 

An Echium vulgare or viborera on the northern slopes below Izaña 

     The blossoming Tower of Jewels is also a favourite for bees, especially the Amegilla canifrons, the Canary Island Blue-banded bee. Apiaries high in the pine forests of Tenerife produce one of the best of the island’s magnificent honeys. The Black Canary Island bee, related to the African bee, has also adapted to the contrasting climate at high altitude and has developed a preference for the pollen produced by species like the flowering Echium, the Retama and the Teide Violet.

The dazzling scarlet flowers of the Echium wildpretii attracting a blue-banded bee

     Honey from the Echium wildpretii is today considered one of the finest in the world. It should have a smooth, creamy texture with colour ranging from almost transparent to light beige. Visitors to Puerto de la Cruz and other traditional towns in the Canary Islands will be able to find jars of Tajinaste honey in small specialist shops. Nevertheless, the lack of snows to soak into the volcanic soils in the alpine highlands around Mount Teide in recent years has taken a toll and authentic Tajinaste honey is becoming more difficult to find.

Miel de Tenerife honey (Courtesy Cabildo de Tenerife)

By John Reid Young, author and Canary Island private tour #guide.

Books by John include:

The Skipping Verger and Other Tales, a selection of historical, very short #stories.

A Shark in the Bath and Other Stories, a selection of longer, semi-biographical short stories.

El Hombre de La Guancha y Otras Historias, a selection of short stories in Spanish.

The Journalist, a novel described as a political thriller.

For more information, or if you would like to read any of my books, please click on the images to the right of the web version of this page.

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