Flore des Mascareignes

The Flore des Mascareignes (Fl. Mascar.) is a flora, in French, covering the three islands in the Mascarenes: Réunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues.

Project history
The project began in 1970 with the agreement signed in 1971, prepared jointly by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute (MSIRI), and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The completion of the Flora was funded by the EC's European Development Fund (1996).

The first editors appointed were J. Bosser (Editor-in-Chief), W. Marais, and Dr. R. Julien, with Dr. R.E. Vaughan as adviser. The first taxonomist was M.J.E. Coode, who worked on the Flora until the end of 1975; he was replaced by I.B.K. Richardson in 1976, who spent 6 weeks collecting in the Mascarenes. The first fascicule of the Flora was published in 1976. The final two volumes, covering the orchids, were published in 2023.

The Flora treats the native flora in detail, including ferns, but includes naturalised and commonly cultivated plants.

Editors have been R. Antoine (MSIRI), J.C. Autrey (MSIRI), J. Bosser (IRD), J.P.M. Brenan (Kew), J. Heslop-Harrison (Kew), I.K. Ferguson (Kew), G.Mangenot (ORSTOM), C. Soopramanien (MSIRI).

Flora
The Mascarenes have a high level of endemism, about 65%, with some shared between the islands of the archipelago. Others are found only on a single island, Rodrigues (47), Réunion (165) and Mauritius (273). Some are already extinct while most are threatened.

Botanical history
There has been a long history of botanical studies on the islands of Mauritius and Réunion. The botany of Rodriguez was not studied until 1879.





















Geology
The Mascarenes are volcanic in origin. Reunion is the largest island, formed about 3 million years ago, rising to 3070m with an active volcano. Mauritius and Rodrigues were formed about 8-10 million years ago. Mauritius consists of large plains with steep mountains surrounding them, the remnants of an old caldera, that are only 828m high. Rodrigues is the smallest of the islands and is much eroded, reaching 398m high at Mt Limon.