Castela galapageia (Amargo)

Bitterbush is native to the Galápagos, and is most common on Santiago, Española, Santa Cruz, and Floreana. It is also found on Baltra, Fernandina, Isabela, Marchena, Pinta, Pinzón, San Cristóbal, Santa Fe, and Seymour.

Plants: A multiply branched shrub up to 16′ (5 m) in size. Branches have spines from 1/32–¼″ (1.5–7 mm) long.

Leaves: Alternate, or in clusters of 2-5, waxy, dark green, approximately oval but variably shaped, and ¼–1½″ (8–40 mm) long.

Flowers: Small red or yellow flowers emerge from branch nodes. Each flower has four petals, each 1/16–3/16″ (3–5 mm) long. Male flowers have 8 stamens.

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Sapindales	Includes citrus; maples, horse-chestnuts, lychees and rambutans; mangos and cashews; frankincense and myrrh; mahogany and neem
Family	Simaroubaceae	A small mostly tropical family including Quassia, Simarouba, and Ailanthus
Genus	Castela	For French naturalist René Richard Louis Castel
Species	galapageia	Of or from the Galápagos Islands

About plant names...