Jatropha unicostata occurs widely throughout the island. It is not palatable to livestock, but is very useful to their owners. For instance, when a twig is cut or snapped, it produces (according to terrain and aridity) either a clear or a vivid blood-red liquid. This is used for many purposes: it is swallowed as an emetic; the red variety is collected and kept in a little clay or wooden pot and used to decorate pages of the Holy Qur'an (the black 'ink' used for the main body of the text being made from a soot mixture or from squid ink); it can also be used to mark personal property, such as date palms. It is too an important antiseptic: applied to a fresh cut it staunches the flow of blood, and as it dries forms a clear but flexible skin which covers and protects the wound as it heals. This treatment is especially effective in soothing burns and other inflammatory conditions of the skin. The wood of the tree is ideal for livestock smudges, and even its bark is of use : it can be pulled off in sheets and used to strap a fractured limb - it sets firm but remains slightly flexible, protecting the limb from further trauma while the bone sets. The smaller branches can be hollowed out by twisting away the inner core - the remaining hollow tube is notched and curved, and then used as a pipe for the locally-grown tobacco.

Commiphora socotrana grows across on the island. It provides an important medicament: pieces of the bark and underbark are removed, roughly crushed between two stones and then cooked with a little water over a slow fire. The resultant strained liquid is used to wash a sore or a wound, and in particular the wound of circumcision. Pieces of the same bark are put beside the fire to char and then ground to a fine powder which is used as an antiseptic wound dressing, usually after the wound has been washed with the liquid disinfectant described above. The bark can also be ground to a paste which is used in the tanning process both to strengthen and to redden the lether of skins and hides which are to be used for water and buttermilk, or stitched ti make satchels to hold personal possessions (skins for dates are treated only with ash, which deters insects). The sticky resin that exudes from this tree is chewed to strengthen the teeth and gums and cleanse the stomach. A fresh twig is snapped off and used as a toothstick to keep the teeth white and strong and the breath sweet.

Dracaena cinnabari - The famous Dragon's Blood Tree, whose resin was once a key export of the island (used in the manufacture of enamels, varnishes, tinctures, toothpastes, plaster and for dyeing horn to make it look like tortoiseshell), is on the island used mainly medicinally and as a dye or paint. The resin for export is made by boiling chunks of bark and underbark in a little water and then crushing them to a paste which is spread out on a flat rock surface to cool and dry. Before quite cold it is moulded by hand into shapes suitable for packing and onward sale. The resin most appreciated on the island, however, is that which exudes naturally from the tree itself when it comes into flower. It can only be collected by climbing into the tree and picking off the droplets where they have oozed from the base of the flowering shoots. This product is used to treat stomach problems, especially in women (for post-partum pains or for a retained placenta), as well as a variety of other complaints. The clay pottery of the island is often decorated with a vivid red paint made by warming the resin over the fire until it liquifies, and applying the paint with a bit of rag or a stick. Some people decorate their houses with it as well (and women have even been known to make use of it as a lipstick) - like the red Jatropha sap, it can be used to mark personal property. Droplets of fresh resin are chewed to sweeten the breath and give the mouth an attractive colour. The resin is an effective glue which can be used to mend cracks in clay utensils. The fruit and leaves, as we saw above, both have value as a dry season livestock fodder, but the leaves also provide a fibre from which cordage can be made: leaves being collected for this purpose, however, must not be collected from a tree in flower or fruit, or the cordage will be of inferior quality. Old, long-dead leaves can be gathered to make a surprisingly comfortable bedding. The dried inner core of a dead tree makes an excellent tinder, and in addition drums can be made from sections cut from the trunk: the sliced cross sections are left to dry out and the fibrous core is removed. If the drum is to be played sitting on the ground, a goat skin is stretched over one end only; if to be played looped over the shoulder by a standing drummer, skin is bound over both ends. The whole tree with its dense crown offers the weary traveller thick shade in which to rest or shelter from rain, the village a natural meeting, and the myriads of small birds who nest in its branches, a safe harbour.

Adenium obesum - Perhaps one of the most characteristic plants of the island is the Adenium tree with its singular, swollen shape and startlingly bright pink flowers borne on a grey and virtually leafiess body. It is unpalatable to livestock, but has other uses: a necklace of chunks of the white underbark, or a single long strip of bark is tied around the neck of a young kid to discourage the attacks of the wild cat (which always goes for the neck). Small chips of the flesh can be cast into the waters of the saltwater lagoons that indent the coast: this poisons the small fish which then easily caught to be used as bait. Sometimes small fish shapes are whittled from the flesh of the tree, with the fibre of one end frayed out to look like a fishtail, and these too can be used as bait. On a more frivolous note, young girls dress up making bracelets galore from the soft white underbark, necklaces of threaded shells and rings from sections of hollowed out Jatropha twigs. The tree is also a favourite target for boys games of throwing knives or pointed sticks - its flesh is soft and impressible, and offers an inviting (and indelible) surface on which to draw or to inscribe ones name.

Euphorbia arbuscula - Another characteristic tree of the Soqotran landscape is the tree-euphorbia, Euphorbia arbuscula . As we have seen, it is an important drought fodder for goats, but its latex is also used medicinally, cases of ringworm, psoriasis, eczema, herpes and other similar skin complaints. A large leaf, such as one from Ficus vasta. Jatropha or Commiphora ornifolia, is smeared with the latex and placed over the forequarters of an animal suffering from a bad chest. The tree euphorbia possesses another noteworthy property : it is a safe refuge for those fleeing from evil spirits, who are unable - or unwilling - to follow a victim who takes refuge under the Euphorbia arbuscula tree.