Viola anagae, sky drops Anaga Rural Parc

So I call her, because that was my first impression upon seeing their flowers on a vivid and brilliant blue sky covering the floor of the great laurel forest of Anaga Rural Park, jealously preserved by Tenerife as a relic of primeval rainforest subtropical million years ago covered all the islands of Macaronesia, the Mediterranean and Atlantic coast of Africa over Ecuador, the whole Iberian Peninsula, the southernmost half of France, the south coast of Britain and western Mediterranean islands . It is endemic to Tenerife and only grows in the laurel of Anaga.

Viola anagae in the underbrush of the forest road that climbs from the Mirador del Cabezo del Tejo to the impressive Roque de Anambro. This small botanical treasure is protected by law. Included in the list of plants susceptible to habitat disturbance of the Endangered Species List as the Canary Islands and vulnerable plant on the Red List of Spanish Vascular Flora.

Enlarging the picture with a double click will appreciate better the details of this beautiful Anaga violet a bright blue color with violet tints.

Some flowers are clearer with the ends of the petals almost white.

A characteristic feature of this endemic species toTenerife is the spur of a pure white color on the back of the flower. If you look the flowers seem to satellite dishes directed toward the light.

Anaga violet is a perennial plant with long stoloniferous shoots that take root as they touch the ground. Thus a single plant will cover a large area of ​​underbrush.

And to finish the detail of the leaves are suborbicular like little green hearts with jagged edge and the rear with two atria close together, sometimes overlapping. The fruits are glabrous capsules.