The garden contains about 170 species of carnivorous plants, one of the largest such collections in Germany, as well as good collections of Euphorbia (300 species), Mediterranean plants (250 species), Haworthia and Aloe (65 species), as well as Aeonium, Conophyllum (40 species), Rhipsalis, and rare plants from Socotra.
The genus Dendrosicyos, with the only species being the cucumber tree, is adapted to the arid semidesert island of Socotra.
The only other species in the genus, the Socotra pomegranate (Punica protopunica), is endemic to the island of Socotra.
The Socotra Sparrow (Passer insularis) is a passerine bird endemic to the islands of Socotra, Samhah, and Darsah in the Indian Ocean, off the Horn of Africa.
Several species are endemic to the small island of Socotra off the Horn of Africa.
The Abd al-Kuri Sparrow (Passer hemileucus) is a passerine bird endemic to the small island of Abd al Kuri (also spelled several other ways) in the Socotra archiplago of the Indian Ocean, off the Horn of Africa.
The plant life on Socotra is critically threatened – of 216 known plant species endemic to Socotra and its neighbour Abd al Kuri, 132 are believed to be threatened, and of these, 85 face immediate extinction.
In the opposite direction, medieval Gujaratis and other Indians traded extensively with Arab and Somali ports, including Ormuz, Socotra, Mogadishu, Merca, Barawa, Hobyo and Aden.
The majority of the 33 species of the genus are found in southern Africa and Socotra, with outlying and relict species in Australia's Southwest and Kangaroo Island.
The closest extant relatives of the spider are found at Kangaroo Island, Socotra and in southern Africa.
During the First Gulf War images of badly oiled cormorants from the Gulf were regularly shown in the western media, and although the Great Cormorant is also found in the Gulf, it is likely that many of these were Socotra cormorants.