Its trunk can grow up to 2.5 metres in diameter and in spring it produces pink flowers. A subspecies of southern Arabia’s desert rose, it is endemic to Socotra. Of the island’s 825 plant ...

Bayley Balfour proceeded to Socotra early in 1880 ... Cockburn, for the purpose of investigating the natural history of the island. Originally it was intended that Colonel Godwin-Austen should ...

Its fuchsia flowers inspired the common name desert ... the limestone hills will still hear the song of the Socotra bunting, part of the island’s weird and wonderful array of life.

The island chain of Socotra, famed for unique plants and animals found nowhere else on the planet, is coping with the aftermath of a powerful cyclone. The archipelago was struck by Cyclone Mekunu ...