The Parque Central de Arona is a public park of 42,000 square metres in Arona, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

. It is made up of several squares and gardens in the tourist centre of Playa de las Americas

Playa de las Américas

Playa de las Américas is a purpose-built holiday resort in the northern part of the Municipality of Arona, close to the adjoining Municipality of Adeje in the south of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. It was built in the 1960s beside the town of Los Cristianos and stretching northward to the...

.

The park, which opened in 2004, was commissioned by the Cabildo de Tenerife

Cabildo de Tenerife

Cabildo de Tenerife is the governing body of the island of Tenerife , Spain. It was established on 16 March 1913 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in a session held by the City Council, it was at that time, the first corporation...

 and designed by GBGV Architects (Architect Jorge Mosquera Paniagua) and the botanist Carlo Morici

Carlo Morici

Carlo Morici , lives since 1995 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands He is a biologist specialized in Palms also known for his landscaping projects....

. The park displays the native flora of the Canary Islands.

Walkways are lined with tamarind

Tamarind

Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...

 and macadamia

Macadamia

Macadamia is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, with a disjunct distribution native to eastern Australia , New Caledonia and Sulawesi in Indonesia ....

 trees. A third of the area is covered with over 40 species of palm trees intermingled with tropical vegetation. The family Bombaceae is well represented by Chorisia speciosa, Bombax ceiba

Bombax ceiba

Bombax ceiba, like other trees of the genus Bombax, is commonly known as cotton tree or tree cotton. This tropical tree has a straight tall trunk and its leaves are deciduous in winter. Red flowers with 5 petals appear in the spring before the new foliage. It produces a capsule which, when ripe,...

, Ceiba pentandra, and several baobabs, including Adansonia digitata

Adansonia digitata

Adansonia digitata is the most widespread of the Adansonia species on the African continent, found in the hot, dry savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa. It also grows, having spread secondary to cultivation, in populated areas...

and A. grandidieri

Adansonia grandidieri

Adansonia grandidieri , the biggest and most famous of Madagascar’s six baobabs, is an endangered species in the genus Adansonia. It is endemic to Madagascar. A...

.

Morici designed an environmental reconstruction of the endangered Canarian coastal scrub, typically characterized by Euphorbia balsamifera

Euphorbia balsamifera

Euphorbia balsamifera is a plant in the Euphorbia genus. It is distributed from Arabian Peninsula to Sahara and Canary Islands....

and Euphorbia canariensis

Euphorbia canariensis

Euphorbia canariensis, commonly known as the Canary Island Spurge or as Hercules Club to horticulturalistsis a succulent member of the family Euphorbiaceae and genus Euphorbia that grows natively in the arid and humid environment of the lowest areas in the Canary Islands where it is also endemic...

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Other trees include the official tree of Arona, Pistacia atlantica

Pistacia atlantica

Pistacia atlantica is a species of pistachio tree known by the English common name Mt. Atlas mastic tree and as the Persian turpentine tree. In Iran it is called baneh. In the Canary Islands is known as Almacigo. Betoum is called in Arabic.- Overview :It is a tree of the genus Pistacia. It is a...

, dragon trees

Dracaena draco

Dracaena draco, the Canary Islands Dragon Tree or Drago isa subtropical Dragon Tree native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, and locally in western Morocco, and introduced to the Azores...

, and the Canary Island Date Palm

Canary Island Date Palm

Phoenix canariensis is a species in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands. It is a relative of Phoenix dactylifera, the true date palm....

(Phoenix canariensis).

External links

• Inauguration of the first phase of the Park Arona, SPANISH, (2002-05-16)
• Approval of the second phase, SPANISH, (2003-12-01)