Archive record · Project species list · 2020s · Shura Island, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia
This record rebuilds the working species list for super advanced trees supplied for Shura Island, the flagship island of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea destination: one page of botanical shorthand behind one of the most ambitious resort landscapes ever attempted, and part of a supply programme our team delivered into.
The list, decoded
Working lists compress botanical intent into code: Ade.dig for Adansonia digitata, Del.reg for Delonix regia. Expanded, the Shura Island palette tells a precise climatic story:
- Statement trees: African and Australian baobabs (Adansonia digitata, A. gregorii): sculptural, heat-proof icons for arrival moments.
- The shade canopy: rain tree (Albizia saman), African mahogany (Khaya senegalensis), Albizia lebbeck, Ficus altissima and F. microcarpa: broad crowns that make outdoor space usable in Red Sea heat.
- Flowering theatre: poinciana (Delonix regia), golden shower tree (Cassia fistula), coral tree (Erythrina crista-galli), red-flowering Bombax ceiba: the resort's seasonal colour engine.
- Coastal specialists: cotton tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus and its rubra form), Barringtonia species, screw pines (Pandanus): genuine shoreline performers.
- Productive and cultural species: mango, pomelo, loquat, carambola, neem and frangipani (Plumeria obtusa): trees that carry scent, fruit and familiarity into the guest experience.
Why this record matters
Species lists are where design ambition meets botanical reality, and this one shows a giga-project palette built the right way: every entry either proven in tropical coastal heat or chosen for a specific microclimate within the resort. For our team it is also a delivery record: the "super advanced" grade specified here means the largest transplantable specimens in the trade, sourced, prepared and moved through exactly the methods documented across this archive.
Read how this scale of supply works in the News journal, where a full giga-project supply article publishes this January, see the KSA capability page, or continue in the Knowledge Archive.