Raising the living dead: Ramosmania rodriguesii

By Carlos Magdalena*

(Published in The Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, No. 8, pp. 63-73, 2010)

 

Sir Abdool Raman Osman, Au bout du monde, Le Réduit, Mauritius.

This article is about Ramosmania rodriguesii, a species endemic to the Island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean which has been named after Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Sir Abdool Raman Osman, the first Mauritian Prime Minister and first Mauritian Governor-General respectively. They were also schoolmates at the Royal College of Curepipe (Island of Mauritius) and comrades in England during their university studies a century ago. Sir Abdool Raman was a passionate amateur horticulturist.

Abstract

‘Living dead’ is a term biologists have begun to use to describe those species that are not expected to escape extinction without significant human intervention (janzen, 2001), such as captive breeding or cultivation. While the number of taxa that fall into this category continues to increase, this paper reports on a species that may beat the odds and escape its fate, after decades of cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. an account of the historical facts that led to the recovery of the species in question, Ramosmania rodriguesii, and the latest update regarding its current situation are provided along with cultivation notes.

 

To read the article (PDF): S i b b a l d i a : 63 The Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, No. 8

*Carlos Magdalena is a botanical horticulturist in the living collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK. Email: c.magdalena@kew.org.

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Abdool Raman Osman is the son of Mahomed Osman.