The Mascarene islands, Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues which are situated in Indian Ocean are a sanctuary for numerous plant species that are found nowhere else on planet earth.
 |
| Mascarenes archipelago highlighted in red |
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has identified the Mascarenes as a Centre of Plant Diversity. It came as no surprise when IUCN rated Mauritius as having the third most endangered island flora in the world after Hawaii and the Canary Islands.
The flora of Mauritius consists of just under 700
species and the table below highlights some of the taxa according to their status:
Status
|
No. of Taxa
|
Endemic
|
273
|
Extinct
|
61
|
Endangered
|
55
|
Vulnerable
|
98
|
It is is a matter of great concern that 89 taxa are represented by 10 or fewer
known individuals and five taxa are represented by only a single individual in
the wild.
Many of the surviving endemic species are threatened with
extinction, due mainly to introduction of invasive alien species, decline in forest
cover and over-exploitation. Their isolation combined with the
physical, climatic, and biological factors prevailing in this
part of the Indian Ocean have contributed to the high level endemism found
here.
Enough of the technical jargon now! My first post
has been very long, but please bear with me friends. This was necessary to set the
stage for subsequent articles that will aim to create awareness on the Flora of Mauritius. The pictures that will be posted are from my personal
collection and some have been shared by friends and colleagues as well.
