Les herbonautes

Vanuatu, an archipelago in the Eastern Islands Melanesian Biodiversity Hotspot, remains virtually unknown to botanists. Though collectors have recorded plant specimens there since the Second Voyage of Captain Cook (1772-1775), we do not know the flora of Vanuatu. Join us to help discover these plants and learn more about the South Sea Islands.

Where’s Vanuatu?

Vanuatu makes the claim to be the country you thought you did not know. It is the home of Bungee jumping! An adventurer traveling through the area in the 20th-century witnessed the agricultural ritual in Central Vanuatu, and later transformed it for the modern thrill-seeking crowd. It is the purported origin of Kava (Piper methysticum), where, in the Pacific, it is known as the peace plant for its use in settling disagreements and promoting community. Moreover, from pop culture, it is the inspiration for the book and Broadway musical, Tales of the South Pacific, as well as the setting of Academy Award-nominated film, Tanna.

What about the plants?

Botanists, on the other hand, know Vanuatu as the place that we know we do not know. The archipelago is in the middle of a triangle marked by areas, which scientists know more about the natural history. The Solomon Islands lie to the north, New Caledonia to the southwest and Fiji to the east. All of these areas have received botanical treatments that allow amateurs and botanists alike to know which plants exist throughout the archipelago. Though a simple list of plants exists for these other regions, botanists in Vanuatu have no such luxury.

How will this help?

In order to set a scientifically based conservation agenda, we need an accurate idea of what plants grow in Vanuatu and where. Similarly, to tell stories of the natural history of the Vanuatu flora, we require an accurate understanding of the distribution of Vanuatu plants compared to neighboring archipelagoes. The goal of this project is to produce a baseline of plants that exist in Vanuatu. We will use this document, known as an inventory, to conduct all other plant research in the archipelago. Transcribing all of the specimens at Paris is a significant step towards this goal. P contains more specimens outside of Vanuatu than any other herbarium!