Flora of French Polynesia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The flora of French Polynesia refers to the native vegetation of the Marquesas Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Society Islands and the Tubuai Islands, located in Oceania. Due to its type of vegetation, French Polynesia falls within the palaeotropic floral kingdom.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2019) |
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (May 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
The flora of these islands is relatively poor in terms of diversity of species, due to their geographical isolation.[1][2] However, most of the islands are covered by tropical forest. That is because the soil of volcanic origin is very fertile, and the climate is warm and humid.[3] Among the trees of these islands that stand out are the coconut tree, the breadfruit , the casuarina, the banana, the ceiba, the banyan, the ilang-ilang, the polynesian chestnut, the flamboyant and the Caribbean pine. Among the bushes that stand out are the tiaré flower (emblem of Tahiti), the hibiscus, the plumeria, the bougainvillea, the gardenia, the jasmine and the oleander.
Fruit picking is one of the main sources of income in the island's agricultural sector. Among the foods produced are mango, papayas, avocados, grapefruit, pineapples, oranges, coconuts, bananas and to a lesser extent taro and yam.[4]