section_path: Ecology/Plants
section_name: Plants
paragraph_text: Plants
  
  Sint Maarten is home to many distinctive plants such as hibiscus, yellow sage (seen on the flag), flamboyant trees, mahogany, and cacti. An estimated 522 wild plants are present, mainly being seed plants and a few ferns. The Calyptranthes boldinghgii and Galactia nummelaria are " island-endemic ", and it is suspected that they have already gone extinct. Much of the hilltops are semi-evergreen seasonal forests which are rare in the region.
  
  The categorization of native, introduced, and invasive plant species is not as well documented for the island. Some of the introduced plant species include: manila grass (Zoysia matrella), Spanish bayonet (Y ucca aloifolia), Singapore almond (Terminalia catappa), true aloe (Aloe vera). Some of the native species are west Indian holly (Tunera ulmifolia), spiny amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus), bell pepper (C apsium pulcherrima), salt heliotrope (Heliotropium curassavicum), bay rum tree (pimento racemose), and sourbush (pluchea carolinesis). One of the invasive species on the island is crowfoot grass (Dactyloctenium aegyptium).