Escobilla carnosa (Kunkeliella subsucculenta)

Hemiparasitic, erect, densely branched, succulent, woody shrub, up to 80 cm. Stems and branches woody and grey to bronze. Leaves are tiny, subdeltoid and scale-like. Flowers are very small and green; fruits are drupes and monosperm. Very rare species, exclusive to the north coast of Tenerife, specifically the boroughs of Icod de los Vinos and La Guancha, where it is localized on sheer slopes and coastal cliffs battered by sea spray. It grows among halophytic vegetation and the lower edges of Euphorbia communities. There are only two populations and both total fewer than 1,000 specimens. Such a restricted distribution area—just 2 km2—has led to its inclusion in the Nature 2000 Network as the Site of Community Importance, Alcantilado costero de Los Perros, thereby theoretically guaranteeing its conservation. The genus Kunkeliella, native to the Canaries, has three more species, two in Tenerife (K. retamoides and K. psilotoclada) and one in Gran Canaria (K. canariensis).