Scalesia pedunculata is a flowering plant species in the family Asteraceae, growing to a slender tree (20m tall, DBH 20 cm), and found in dense stands on the humid windward coasts of the islands of Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Santiago and Floreana in the Galapagos Islands.

[citation needed] Charles Darwin first collected specimens of this species from Santiago Island ('James Island') in October 1835 on the voyage of the Beagle, and it was later named by his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, who described it as 'frutescens' (becoming a shrub) as he thought that Darwin had made a mistake in calling it a tree, since members of the Daisy family rarely attain such a size.

[3] The genus Scalesia comprises 9 species, with another 5 still unassessed and all endemic to the Galapagos Islands,[4] three of which attain tree size viz.

Next was the collapse in 1982-83, coinciding with an El Niño event, which brought heavy rain for many weeks, causing roots to rot and strong winds later flattened the entire forest.

The perennial mists provide moisture to flourishing communities of epiphytes growing on the trunks and branches, with the drops eventually trickling down to ground level and the soil below.