''Pandanus microcarpus'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Pandanaceae Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa through the Pacific. It contains 982 known species in five genera, of which the type genus, ''Pandanus'', is the most important, wi ...

, endemic to

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Description

This small (5-6m), slender, freely branching tree can be distinguished from its closest relatives by its drooping, dark yellow-green leaves with red marginal spines. It can also easily be distinguished by its small (7–9 cm), oval, red to purple fruit-head, which is born on a twisted, recurved stalk. Each fruit-head is packed with 75-200 2.5 cm-long drupes. The exposed top of each drupe is flat or slightly convex (not forming a domed or pyramid shape). Unusually for its genus, it sometimes bears staminodes.

Habitat

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

, where it was once widespread. Its habitat is now largely destroyed. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s and

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s in medium-rainfall areas of Mauritius.

References

microcarpus Endemic flora of Mauritius Critically endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Isaac Bayley Balfour {{Pandanales-stub