Scalesia
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Scalesia is a genus in the family Asteraceae endemic to the Galapagos Islands. It contains twelve species of shrubs and three species of trees. It is unusual because tree species are rare in Asteraceae.
All of the species have soft, pithy wood.
Scalesia species have been called "the Darwin's finches of the plant world" because they show a similarly dramatic pattern of adaptive radiation.
Scalesia pedunculata is a large tree species which grows up to ten meters tall. They reach maturity in about fifteen years. The trees typically grow in stands of the same species and the same age. They die around the same time, and then a new generation of seedlings grow in the same place.
Scalesia atractyloides and Scalesia stewartii are two small tree species, very similar to each other.
