| Neutral | timrann | On Mar 28, 2007, timrann from Other
(Mauritius) wrote: Ram-osmania comes from the name of the first prime minister
of Mauritius which was Sir Sewoosagar Ramgoolam , so the
first sylable Ram Comes from that and osmania comes from the
governor of Mauritius after independance
which was Sir Abdool Raman Osman. Rodriguesii is the variety
because it was found there (as is of Mauritian island
also).And it was quite a fairy tale of the RE-discovering of
that plant again. The only drawing was in about 18th century
in botanical studies . The tale was that, this plant was
thought to be extinct and 1 day a teacher sent his students
to collect plant items to identify plants or just to engage
them is some environmental interest. When the schoolboys
returned one had brought this unusual branch and plant materials , which the teacher remembered seing somewhere.
.When he made
inquiries in fact it was a very rare plant not to say the
rarest or the unique living of the species, also where the
students found this plant ;it was half eaten by goats in
Rodrigues.It was sent to Kew propagation in the UK . And cuttings with roots were sent back to Rodrigues and Mauritius .But as they were propagated in tissue culture , it could not bear viable fruit. And now quite recently it has been flowering
and bearing fertile seeds.The venecular name is because of
it ressemblance to coffe (cafe in french) and marron for
everything that grows in the wild and also could be due to run away slave also
which here called marroon .The flower have a nice jasmin
smell.That was the story of Ramosmania Rodriguesii.
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