Common name: Cuernúa, dog fang
Scientific name: Caralluma burchardii
Status: Generally rare species, but may be locally abundant in some mountainous areas.
Habitat and distribution: Distributed in the eastern Canary Islands (possibly also very rare in Gran Canaria) and in Morocco, the cuernúa lives in arid lands from near the sea to 500 meters above sea level on the inland mountain slopes.
How to recognize it: Small succulent plant up to 15-20 centimeters tall, with thick stems with a quadrangular section and an olive green or brownish green colour. It grows in more or less large and dense groups. The flowers appear in winter and spring and are like small five-pointed stars, brown in color and covered with short white hairs. The center of the flower is yellow. Elongated fruits, in pairs so that they look like two horns, containing numerous flattened yellowish seeds with a tuft of hairs to be distributed by the wind.
Curiosities: Plant very tolerant to drought, highly toxic, so it is not touched by herbivorous animals except for certain insects that can feed on it.
