The Garden is in fact a grand scale palmetum with no less than eighty species. Of these, eight are endemic to the Mascarenes. The exotic species are from various parts of the tropics where they are pre-eminent for their stature and luxuriance. They can be divided broadly into two main groups:
(a) feather or pinnate-leaved and
(b) fan or flabelliform-leaved
The greatest number comes from the first group.
The Talipot (Corypha umbraculifera)
The Talipot palm, is a species of palm native to eastern and southern India and Sri Lanka. Apart from Mauritius where it was introduced, it is also grown in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Andaman Islands.
It was first introduced by the Singhalese Prince Ehelepola, who was arrested by the British in colonial Ceylon and exiled to Mauritius in 1825.
It is one of the five accepted species in the genus. It is a flowering plant with the largest inflorescence in the plant kingdom. The first plant that was introduced flowered in the 1920s. The plant dies soon after setting seeds
The Talipot Palm and its flower, the largest one in the plant kingdom
