The Café Marron
'Ramosmania rodriguesii'

The Café Marron tree, Ramosmania rodriguesii, is endemic to the Mauritian island of Rodrigues where it was thought to be extinct for forty years. However in 1980 a teacher sent his pupils out on an exploration trip to find interesting and rare plants. One pupil unearthed a small shrub half eaten by goats and on returning to the school with a cutting, the teachers identified it as the Café Marron. Scientists placed barbed wire fences around the small tree, now the only known tree of the species growing in the wild in the world, to protect it. Local people had come to believe that such a rare plant would cure an array of ailments from hangovers to venereal diseases, although these properties have never been proved scientifically.

After a lucky recovery from a disease caused by an unidentified spider mite, cuttings were sent to Kew Gardens in 1986 in order to attempt propagating the species and ensure its survival.

Kew's horticulturists were successful at propagating the plant and at the end of 2001, took eleven rooted cuttings out by plane to repatriate the species to the islands.

The Café Marron is a member of the coffee family (Rubiaceae) and this common name is a reference not to its colour but to black slaves who were known as 'Marron'. It has fragrant white flowers but sadly they are sterile. This means that any seedlings that grow into trees are clones of the original tree and will carry the same fate.

See also:

• Update November 2003: first ever recorded fruits of the Café Marron produced at Kew
• A small tree grown in Kew's nurseries can be seen at the south end of the Palm House
• Search Kew's electronic Plant Information Centre (ePIC) for Ramosmania rodriguesii
• Threatened Plants of Madagascar Appeal