Issue 2 2011 Lo-res PDF - Passion Flowers

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Passionflowers on Reunion Island
Reunion Island is not well known, therefore I will
briefly introduce it to readers before describing
the Passifl ora species which grow there.
Before you start scanning your globe in vain let me help,
this tiny spot is in the Southern Hemisphere in the
South-Western Indian Ocean. Our closest neighbors are
respectively Mauritius, 200km (124 mi) to the East, and
Madagascar, 600km (372 mi) to the West. I bet you can
now figure out more easily where I am writing from! To be
even more precise, Reunion is at 21°07’ South latitude and
55°32’ East longitude. Together with Mauritius, (under
British rule until independence in 1968), and Rodrigues
Island, (belonging to Mauritius, 570km or 350m East of
the latter), we form the Mascareignes archipelago named
after Pedro de Mascarenhas, a Portuguese navigator credited
with the discovery of these islands in the early 16th century.
Reunion was first occupied by French people while it was
still a desert island around the year 1642. It slowly evolved
to be a French colony and a French department in 1946,
so although Paris is about 10000km (6200 mi) away this is
French land. Of course the setting is tropical, and though
many people come from France, there are also inhabitants
from several other places including Africa, Madagascar,
China and India, making it an amazing melting pot.
P. miniata © Jean-Jacques Segalen
10 PAssIFLorA oNLINE JourNAL SEPtEMbER 2011
PAssIFLorA oNLINE JourNAL SEPtEMbER 2011 11