Saving Paradise

Category: Endemic plants | Date: Aug 24 2009 | By: savingparadise

I am always amazed at the diversity of Seychelles’ wildlife, and more so after I have been out and seen something new. The Seychelles consists of about 115 Islands of different origin accounting for the diversity that it has. Some are weathered fragments of an ancient continent, others are remains of ancient reefs while some are relatively recently exposed low islands of coral sand. Mahe, the largest of the Islands, and where most of the population of Seychelles lives, is part of a group of about 40 islands of the granitic category. Mossy tropical forests can be found on upper slopes of the granitic islands and open scrubby vegetation on lower areas.

A mountain ridge runs the length of the island of Mahe. It was to one of the hilltops of that ridge where I joined a hike on Sunday and where I saw the Jellyfish tree. The Critically Endangered and very rare Jellyfish tree is an an endemic of Seychelles, found scattered only on the exposed granite slopes of Mahe. It was thought to be extinct until a few individuals were discovered in the 1970s. The tree is now found in three sites on Mahe, which are within the protection of the Morne Seychellois National Park.

Terence had told me of the possibility of coming across the tree on this hike. Having heard of it I was keen to see it. So I joined the hike on a trail that runs on Mahe’s Mont Palmiste.

The tree gets its name from clusters of flowers, which look like an upside down Jellyfish. Its scientific name Medusagyne oppositifolia, is thought to relate to ‘Medusa’ the goddess of Greek mythology who had a head of snakes.

We got to one of the trees at the top of the hill. But, to see it we first had to contend with the rocky outcrops from which it grew. This particular one was in fact at the bottom of a rock. It had began to rain and the rock was quite slippery, making it quite hard to walk on it. Rather than end up on our posteriors unwillingly, we decided to use them voluntarily to slowly slide down to where the tree was. The “slide” was rewarding, not only were we within reach of one of the World’s rarest trees, but we also had a spectacular view of the beach at Port Launay below. Unfortunately the tree was not in flower, but we did get photos of its fruit (below) and a few older fruits, which upon drying up and releasing their seed (above) become red brown and open up like tiny parasols.

The Jellyfish tree was not the only endemic plant I saw. On the way we encountered both endemic and introduced palms. Of the endemic palms we came across the Koko Maron (Creole) known as Curculigo sechellensis to science, and the Palmiste or Millionaire’s Salad (Deckenia nobilis), so called because historically the Palmiste’s growing tip was shredded and eaten as millionaire’s salad. The palm is now protected by law because removal of the tip kills it. Now most “millionaire’s salads, it is said, are made from tips of Coconuts. The Thief Palm, Phoenicophorium borsigianum, whose leaves are used traditionally as thatching is perhaps the commonest and therefore the one we saw frequently. In total, Seychelles has six endemic palms.

The trail was also chockfull of tree-ferns and mosses. We passed under a Seychelles Tree Fern, the only fern with a tall stem. This trail was truly an exciting one, in just a few hours, it had given up a number of endemics.

Tags: Jellyfish Tree, Millionaire's Salad, Palmiste, Thief Palm

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Category: Endemic plants | Date: Aug 12 2009 | By: savingparadise

My first thought when I came across my first picture of the Seychelles pitcher plant, Lalyann Potao in Creole,  was, “what is that funny looking plant?”. I quickly reached for my Wildlife of Seychelles to get some ID. Monkey cups? Totally hooked on the name, I decided to do some digging (not of the plant!). It turns out the picture was of the carnivorous Nepenthes pervillei, an endemic Liana of Mahe, Silhouette and Praslin in Seychelles. There are none in Africa so I had never seen one. Here in the Seychelles the best stands of pitcher plants are found on some high hills of Mahe and especially in the mist forests of Silhouette.

Seychelles pitcher plant

The “cups”, arising from  leaves when they are young, are insect traps that provide the plant with additional nutrients. They are deep lidded containers with nectar-producing organs around the lip to attract ants and other invertebrates. The lids prevent the cups from filling with rain water, but its also a seduction device, attracting insects with its bright colours. The pitchers can get up to 20cm long. Because the inner surfaces are smooth, the unfortunate insects fall into the liquid in the lower pitcher and drown! Cells lining  the pitcher produce digestive chemicals which absorb nutrients from the liquid.

The BBC reports that scientists have found a new species of pitcher plants that eats rats! Details of the discovery were published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society earlier this year. The newly discovered giant pitcher Nepenthes attenboroughii - named after British natural history broadcaster David Attenborough - was found in the highlands of the central Philippines. Nepenthes is primarily an Asian genus; the Seychelles endemic is one of the westernmost outlying species. The scientists described it as “among the largest of all carnivorous plant species… which catch not only insects, but also rodents as large as rats”.

Am sure I am not the only one who wants to watch this happen, in slo mo…

More Reading: Pitcher plant: a taste for flesh at our website

Tags: Carnivorous plants, Lianas, Seychelles pitcer plant

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