After many years without a publically available, up to date map of the Parque de Malaga, in early June 2013 the local City Council or Ayuntamiento (Servicio Municipal de Parques y Jardines, Area de Medio Ambiente y Sostenibilidad) finally produced their own excellent much needed guide to the area. It itemises 74 of the major plantings. They have also more recently produced downloadable plant profile documents in Spanish for each of these, and a link to Google Earth so that you can take your own virtual tour through the Parque, along with a limited photo gallery.
You can access all these through the following page. Just follow the links through Jardines Historicas y Emblematicas and click on El Parque.
http://parquesyjardines.malaga.eu/portal/seccion_0007
Writing in 2015, the good news is that the visitor to the area can now find even more information through a recently published book, complete with map and full botanical guide.
“El Parque de Malaga. Un Ejemplo de Biodiversidad” has, fascinatingly, been rewritten and updated by the same original authors of the 1987 “El Parque de Malaga” survey, Blanca Diez-Garretas and Alfredo Asensi. This new edition is a welcome companion on any visit to the Parque, and you can usually find it to buy (depending on availability) in one of the many bookshops in Malaga city centre, and even in the Eroski supermarket in the Larios Centre just over the river.
Given the lack of any official map until recently, I’d already embarked on my own attempt at a giude which I now hope complements the others available. For example, of the 75 plantings identified in the City Council map, there were a few that I had obviously missed. However, I’d managed to add at least another 44 specimens not included in the official map, and obviously the new comprehensive guide published last year now goes even more into detail, covering some 280 plus trees, shrubs, palms and herbaceous plantings. Between all three sources, hopefully the tourist can find something of interest !
Visiting again in January 2015, it’s worth mentioning two points.
Firstly, the Botanical world has a habit of constantly renaming and reclassifying plants year after year – the visitor will always find changes to the “nomenclature”.
Secondly, the Parque doesn’t stand still and there are always new plants added on a regular basis, whether it be groundcover, new drifts of block planting, or larger specimen palms and trees. Being a fairly regular visitor I hope through this blog to keep the map up to date where possible.
Here’s my own effort from 2015 with a plant list including a few updates and botanical corrections. Plantings are numbered in Black, Statues & Monuments lettered in Red – see the separate section for a listing of these.
CLICK ON THE MAP TO SEE A FULL SCALE IMAGE .
PLANT LIST.
1. Dracaena draco
2. Kigelia pinnata
3. Erythrina caffra
4. Phoenix dactylifera
5. Roystonea olecacea
6. Howea fosteriana
7. Caryota urens
8. Howea belmoreana
9. Ceiba pubiflora
10. Caryota mitis
11. Quercus robur
12. Acrocomia aculeata
13. Pritchardia hillebrandii
14.Brunfelsia calycina syn. pauciflora
15. Brahea armata
16. Peltophorum dubium
17. Dombeya x cayeuxii
18. Quiscalis indica syn. Combretum indica
19. Quercus ilex
20. Podocarpus nerifolius
21. Encephalartos laurentianus
22. Cycadaceas zamiaceas (C.revoluta, C. circinalis throughout/a lo largo del Parque)
23. Meryta denhamii
24. Arenga engleri
25. Ptychosperma elegans
26. Syragus romanzoffiana
27. Butia capitata, Butia bonnet, Butia yatay,
28. Murraya paniculata
29. Strelitzia Nicolai, Strelitzia reginae
30. Roystonia regia
31. Brachychiton acerifolium
32. Pheonix rupicola
33. Bauhinia purpurea
34. Diospyros fasciculosa
35. Pinus canariensis
36. Schefflera elegantissima
37. Ginkgo biloba
38. Araucaria columnaris
39. Alpinia zerumbet
40. Magnolia grandiflora
41. Chamaedorea costaricana
42. Persea americana
43. Trevisia palmata
44. Ravenea rivularis
45. Araucaria bidwillii
46. Ravenala madagascariensis
47. Citharexylum spinosum
48. Caryota gigas
49. Bismarckia nobilis
50. Spathodea campanulata
51. Montanoa bipinnatifida
52. Macadamia ternifolia
53. Archontophoenix alexandrae
54. Dypsis lutescens syn. Chrysalidocarpus lutescens
55.Pandanus utilis
56. Taxodium mucronatum
57. Jacaranda mimosifolia
58. Tetraclinis articulate
59. Alocasia odora
60. Livistona chinensis, Livistona sabirus
61. Plumeria rubra
62. Beaumontia grandiflora
63. Grevillea robusta
64. Celtis australis
65. Phoenix reclinata
66. Dypsis decaryi
67. Ficus carica
68.Monstera deliciosa
69. Cephalotaxus harringtonia
70. Dracaena reflexa
71. Casimiroa tetrameria
72. Archontophoenix alexandrae
73. Platanus x hispanica syn. orientalis throughout Paso de los Curas.
74. Morus alba
75. Phoenix roebelenii
76. Araucaria heterophylla syn. A.excelsa
77. Brachychiton populneum
78. Datura x candida syn Brugmansia x candida
79. Musa cavendishii
80. Ceratonia siliqua
81. Eucalyptus polyanthemos
82. Sabal blackburniana
83. Acer negundo
84. Bambusa vulgaris
85. Cereus peruvianus (in poor condition/en mal estado 2013)
86. Yucca elephantipes
87. Copernica alba
88. Beaucarnea recurvata
89. Bignonia amarilla syn. Tecoma stans
90. Livistona nitida
91. Acer saccharinum
92. Dracaena sanderiana or syn. D. fragrans.
93. Pachira aquatica
94. Deutzia x magnifica
95. Washingtonia robusta
96. Brahea brandegeei
97. Ligustrum lucidum
98. Harpephyllum caffrum
99. Megaskepasma erythroclanys
100. Acoelorrhape wrightii
101. Callistemon viminalis
102. Zapoteca portoricensis
103. Acalypha wilkesiana
104. Livistona australis
105. Chamaerops humilis
106. Ficus elastica
107. Pittosporum tobira (repitido a lo largo del Parque/repeated through the Park)
108. Livistona beuthamii
109. Cupressus sempervirens
110. Erythrina speciosa
111.Taxus baccata
112. Rhapsis excelsa
113. Washingtonia filifera
114. Ziziphus mauritiana
115. Coccoloba uvifera
116. Schleflera actinophylla
117. Doryanthes palmeri
118. Fucrea selleoana
119. Sterculia monosperma syn. nobilis (formerly coccinea).
Parque de Malaga 
Can you send me a picture of no. 92 I would be intrigued to try and identify it. It isnt Solandra maxima p’chance ?
Hi Adam
Yes, pleased to send you photo of No.92 – I have a couple of ideas but it’s on my list of things to sort out ! There is (or was) Liriope in the park but I’m sure the groundcover in that area is Clivia, either C.nobilis or C.miniata – I think both are present. The Alocasia is definitely labelled as odora, as you say. Appreciate comments and advice as I’m usng this blog to try and work through all the info piece by piece.
Will email shortly, thanks.
Simon