The National Biodiversity Centre of Seychelles. 2019. illus.(col.). 116 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

The National Biodiversity Centre of Seychelles was established in 1998 and includes about 20ha of land on the west coast of Mahé. Some 0.5ha is dedicated ta a nursery, while the remaing fraction is partly an open, rocky grassland, partly a lush tropical (lowland) forest - and so far only very gently landscaped.
The idea behind the initiative in the late 1990s was amongst others to dedicate an area as a centre for preservation and propagation of mainly rare endemic plants and in that way create a thriving home to Seychelles' endangered plant species' (former minister for the Environment and Energy, Dr. Rolph Payet), but also ta support the promotion of the rising eco-tourism with its active and environmentally focused visitors by providing an area that replicates various local eco-systems (cf page 9).
The Centre hosts at present some 115 different, registered plants in total, of which 29 are endemic to the Seychelles and another 16 indigenous to the country. Of these 115 plants are 29 (although not the same 29 as just mentioned) following IUCN's latest Red List of Threatened Plants from 2018 (cf. page 114) worldwide threatened to various degrees (CR, EN or VU) - including 6 to the highest degree being 'critically endangered' (CR).
It might - especially for first time visitors - be difficult to form a general view of a lush, tropical nature area or forest, let alone of the many exciting details of the special plants found there. In order to enjoy this centre to its fullest, we have in this book therefore tried to open this unique, tropical hot-spot on Mahé's west coast by presenting a bouquet of 32 selected plants of particular interest from a biodiversity point of view and let them tell their own unsurpassed story and thus as to why, it is so important to pay special attension to them as weil. Not only are they crucial parts of delicate and well balanced eco-systems but also in surprisingly many ways a simple basis to most peoples daily life.
The order, in which these selected plants are presented, follows the proposed walk on the back cover map and is a result of, where the access to these plants is the easiest, and where they display themselves to the best. That does, however, not prevent you to go 'treasure hunting' to see, if you e.g. with the aid of this book can find and hereafter take pleasure in this or that particular plant growing but elsewhere at the Centre - just please, pay attension to the terrain and respect the environment by not breaking, plucking or uprooting any of the plants.
(authors)