78. The Maltese Salt-tree

Endemics are always special to naturalists, but when the place they live in is tiny and turgid with people, such species are even more precious, because it's a miracle that they exist at all! One of these is the Maltese Salt-tree (M: Xebb). An endemic is a plant or animal that grows or lives in a small region of the planet, so a Maltese endemic means you only find it here. The Maltese Salt-tree is a shrub, a tough, rather drab green affair with tiny flowers, not exactly a very eye-catching sight. It grows mostly on western slopes and south-facing cliffs on practically all the islands of the Maltese group (including Kemmunett, Filfla and Fungus Rock) and is actually quite widespread in some places. So if you're on a beach and there's a cliff nearby with a patchwork of grey shrubs growing right out of the wall, it's probably a community of our precious, very own Maltese salt-tree. That means you're seeing a sight you can never see anywhere else on earth. Dramatic, but scientifically accurate!   

Text by Victor Falzon, photo by Arnold Sciberras.

Copyright to Birdlife Malta.