Conservatoire botanique national de Mascarin
Encyclopedia
The Conservatoire botanique national de Mascarin (12.5 hectares) is a national conservatory and botanical garden
located at 2, rue du Père Georges, Colimaçons, Saint-Leu
, Réunion
, France
. It is open daily except Monday; an admission fee is charged.
The conservatory was established in 1986 as the Conservatoire et Jardin Botanique de Mascarin on farmland belonging to the family of the Marquis Antoine Sosthène Armand de Châteauvieux, at an elevation of 500 meters on the leeward side of La Réunion. In 1993 it was given its current name as it became one of France's eight Conservatoires Botaniques Nationaux. In 1996 its mission changed focus from conservation within its gardens, and the cultivation and the propagation of rare and threatened plants endemic to La Réunion, to a primary emphasis on management and monitoring of species in their natural habitats.
The conservatory's ongoing projects include establishing plots in mid-elevation wet forests for long-term study of plant diversity and vegetation dynamics; field surveys to determine locations for rare endemics (such as the highly endangered Ruizia cordata and Carissa xylopicron; replanting the endangered Lomatophyllum macrum in situ; and seed germination studies of endemic plants including Hugonia serrata and Antirhea borbonica.
The conservatory's garden (3 hectares) contains about 4,000 plant species
endemic to the Mascarene Islands
, i.e., including Madagascar
, Mauritius
, and Rodrigues
, as well as Réunion
itself. It is organized into seven sections as follows:
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
located at 2, rue du Père Georges, Colimaçons, Saint-Leu
Saint-Leu, Réunion
Saint-Leu is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the west side of the island of Réunion.-Points of interest:* Conservatoire botanique national de Mascarin...
, Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It is open daily except Monday; an admission fee is charged.
The conservatory was established in 1986 as the Conservatoire et Jardin Botanique de Mascarin on farmland belonging to the family of the Marquis Antoine Sosthène Armand de Châteauvieux, at an elevation of 500 meters on the leeward side of La Réunion. In 1993 it was given its current name as it became one of France's eight Conservatoires Botaniques Nationaux. In 1996 its mission changed focus from conservation within its gardens, and the cultivation and the propagation of rare and threatened plants endemic to La Réunion, to a primary emphasis on management and monitoring of species in their natural habitats.
The conservatory's ongoing projects include establishing plots in mid-elevation wet forests for long-term study of plant diversity and vegetation dynamics; field surveys to determine locations for rare endemics (such as the highly endangered Ruizia cordata and Carissa xylopicron; replanting the endangered Lomatophyllum macrum in situ; and seed germination studies of endemic plants including Hugonia serrata and Antirhea borbonica.
The conservatory's garden (3 hectares) contains about 4,000 plant species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
endemic to the Mascarene Islands
Mascarene Islands
The Mascarene Islands is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar comprising Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Cargados Carajos shoals, plus the former islands of the Saya de Malha, Nazareth and Soudan banks...
, i.e., including Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, and Rodrigues
Rodrigues
Rodrigues is a common surname in the Portuguese language. It was originally a Patronymic, meaning Son of Rodrigo or Son of Rui. The "es" signifies "son of". The name Rodrigo is the Portuguese form of Roderick, meaning "famous power" or "famous ruler", from the Germanic elements "hrod" and "ric" ,...
, as well as Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
itself. It is organized into seven sections as follows:
- Réunion collection - indigenous flora, including more than 50 endemic speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.
- Lontan plants - a historical collection of local agricultureAgricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, including coffeeCoffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, spices, fruitFruitIn broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
trees, sugar cane, and geraniums.
- Orchard - more than 50 fruit tree species.
- Succulents - succulent plants and exotic cactiCactusA cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
, including species from the AmericasAmericasThe Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
- Palm trees - endemic and exotic palm trees.
- Orchids - orchids.
- Bamboo ravine - bambooBambooBamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
s.