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5 plants worth knowing

Mauritius

Mauritius is a volcanic island ringed by a coral reef, whose landscape has been shaped for three centuries by sugarcane – fields cover most of the lowlands and plateaus. Of the old forests, full of ebonies and endemic palms, only fragments survive, mainly in Black River Gorges National Park and on steep mountains, and many native species have been saved only thanks to protection on small islets.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

plants in our catalogue; native and endemic according to WCVP (Kew) · source
  1. Boucle d’oreille 1

    shrub · National flower of Mauritius

    nativeendemic

    Boucle d’oreille

    Ruizia boutoniana

    The red, bell-shaped flowers of the “earring” grow wild only on the slopes of Le Morne – since 1992 it has been the national flower of Mauritius.
  2. Sugarcane 2

    crop

    cultivated

    Sugarcane

    Saccharum officinarum

    A green sea of sugarcane covers most of the island – for more than two centuries sugar was the foundation of the Mauritian economy.
  3. Bottle palm 3

    palm

    nativeendemic

    Bottle palm

    Hyophorbe lagenicaulis

    A palm with a bottle-shaped trunk graces tropical gardens worldwide, though in the wild only a handful survived, on Round Island.
  4. Tambalacoque 4

    tree

    nativeendemic

    Tambalacoque

    Sideroxylon grandiflorum

    The “dodo tree” – for years it was believed that its seeds would only germinate after passing through the gut of the extinct bird.
  5. Mauritian ebony 5

    tree

    nativeendemic

    Mauritian ebony

    Diospyros tessellaria

    Black ebony wood drew the first Dutch settlers to Mauritius – and very nearly led to the island’s forests being felled.