Myoporum mauritianum is a flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a few volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a small, low-branched shrub with serrated leaves and small white flowers and usually grows on calcarenite within 20 metres (70 ft) of the sea.
Myoporum mauritianum is a low shrub, usually growing to no more than 1 metre (3 ft). It has thick, lance-shaped leaves with serrated edges and are about 44–66 millimetres (2–3 in) long and 7.5–12 millimetres (0.3–0.5 in) wide.[2]
The flowers occur singly or in pairs in the axils of the leaves on a stalk 9–14.5 millimetres (0.4–0.6 in) long and there are 5 triangular sepals. The petals are white and form a tube 2.5–4 millimetres (0.1–0.2 in) long with the lobes spreading to about 2 millimetres (0.08 in). The fruit is a yellow, roughly spherical drupe.[2]
Myoporum mauritianum was first formally described by botanist Alphonse de Candolle in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810.[1][3] The specific epithet mauitianum is the latinised form of Mauritius.
Myoporum mauritianum occurs on the island of Rodrigues in the Republic of Mauritius where there are a few individual plants. Larger populations are found on a few smaller islands near Rodrigues but the species is thought to be extinct on Mauritius, where the type specimen was found.[2]
Myoporum mauritianum was listed as "endangered" on Rodrigues and extinct on Mauritius in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. It has not yet been assessed for the 2014-2015 version.[4]
{{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help) Myoporum mauritianum is a flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a few volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a small, low-branched shrub with serrated leaves and small white flowers and usually grows on calcarenite within 20 metres (70 ft) of the sea.
