Being a small island, much of the vegetation that flourishes on Barbados has a bit of tolerance to salt as you can never be too far away from it. Visit any beach and mahoe trees, manchineel trees and seagrape trees are in abundance. On more arid and windswept parts of the island and right on the beach, seaside morning glory, milkweed and coarse grasses thrive.
Most of these plants are quite harmless, but manchineel is very poisonous. Sheltering under one of these during rain (or afterwards when it’s still dripping) will result in blistering of the skin. The tree produces small apple-like fruit that you shouldn’t even touch. Manchineel trees are particularly common on west coast beaches, but they are usually labelled in some way - a red stripe or an ‘X’ to indicate that it is poisonous.
Casuarina trees and wild geranium are also fairly hardy and thrive in drier windier locations with some salt thrown in. Though these trees and plants can be found inland, they are more frequently found in coastal areas, especially areas that are a bit wild, as other plants will suffer in the saltier environment.
If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.
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