List of endemic plants of Cape Verde

The Cape Verde Islands are an archipelago in The Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa, and form the island nation of Cape Verde. The islands are home to dozens of endemic species and subspecies of vascular plants.[1] The Cape Verde Islands are part of Macaronesia, a biogeographical region which also includes the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Selvagens.[2]

Plants are listed alphabetically by plant family. Extinct and presumed extinct species are indicated with †.

Amaranthaceae

  • Suaeda caboverdeana Rivas Mart.

Apiaceae

  • Daucus carota subsp. annuus (Bég.) Mart.Flores, D.M.Spooner & M.B.Crespo
  • Daucus carota subsp. tenuissimus (A.Chev.) Mart.Flores, D.M.Spooner & M.B.Crespo – Santo Antão and Fogo
  • Daucus humilis (Lobin & K.H.Schmidt) Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte
  • Daucus insularis (Parl.) Spalik, Wojew., Banasiak & Reduron
  • Daucus ribeirensis (K.H.Schmidt & Lobin) Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte

Apocynaceae

Arecaceae

Asparagaceae

Asphodelaceae

  • Asphodelus mariolousae Rivas Mart., J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte – Fogo

Asteraceae

Boraginaceae

  • Echium hypertropicum Webb
  • Echium stenosiphon Webb – Santo Antão, São Nicolau, and São Vicente
    • Echium stenosiphon subsp. glabrescens (Pett.) Romeiras & M.C.Duarte – São Nicolau
    • Echium stenosiphon subsp. lindbergii (Pett.) Bramwell – Santo Antão
    • Echium stenosiphon subsp. stenosiphon – São Vicente
  • Echium vulcanorum A.Chev. – Fogo

Brassicaceae

Campanulaceae

  • Campanula bravensis (Bolle) A.Chev. – Brava, Fogo, and Santiago
  • Campanula cochleromena Gardère
  • Campanula feijoana Gardère – Santo Antão
  • Campanula fransinea Gardère
  • Campanula jacobaea C.Sm. ex Webb – Santiago
  • Campanula monteverdensis Gardère – São Vicente
  • Campanula vicinituba Gardère

Caryophyllaceae

  • Paronychia illecebroides Webb
    • Paronychia illecebroides var. illecebroides
    • Paronychia illecebroides var. nicolauensis Chaudhri – São Nicolau
  • Polycarpaea caboverdeana Rivas Mart.
  • Polycarpaea gayi Webb
    • Polycarpaea gayi var. gayi
    • Polycarpaea gayi var. halimoides Webb
    • Polycarpaea gayi var. lycioides Webb

Cistaceae

Convolvulaceae

  • Cressa salina (J.A.Schmidt) Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte

Crassulaceae

Cyperaceae

Euphorbiaceae

Fabaceae

Frankeniaceae

  • Frankenia caboverdeana (Brochmann, Lobin & Sunding) Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte
  • Frankenia montana (Brochmann, Lobin & Sunding) Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte – São Nicolau
  • Frankenia pseudoericifolia Rivas Mart., Lousã, J.C.Costa & Maria C.Duarte

Gentianaceae

Lamiaceae

  • Lavandula rotundifolia Benth.
  • Micromeria forbesii Benth.
    • Micromeria forbesii var. altitudinum Bolle – Santo Antão
    • Micromeria forbesii var. forbesii
    • Micromeria forbesii var. inodora J.A.Schmidt – Santo Antão and Fogo

Malvaceae

Orchidaceae

  • Habenaria petromedusa Webb – Fogo. Last recorded in 1787.

Papaveraceae

  • Papaver gorgoneum Cout.
    • Papaver gorgoneum subsp. gorgoneum
    • Papaver gorgoneum subsp. theresias Kadereit & Lobin – Santo Antão

Plantaginaceae

Plumbaginaceae

Poaceae

  • Eragrostis conertii Lobin
  • Hyparrhenia caboverdeana Rivas Mart.
  • Urochloa caboverdiana (Conert & C.Kohler) Veldkamp, Potdar & S.R.Yadav

Polypodiaceae

  • Dryopteris gorgonea J.P.Roux – Fogo

Potamogetonaceae

  • Potamogeton antaicus Hagstr.

Sapotaceae

Scrophulariaceae

Solanaceae

Urticaceae

References

  1. ^ Endemic plants of Cape Verde, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) checklist builder. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  2. ^ Brummitt, R. K. (2001). World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (PDF) (2nd ed.). International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases For Plant Sciences (TDWG). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-25. Retrieved 18 February 2025.