The life cycle of some of Aride’s plants

The Coconut Palm
The coconut palm produces large seeds in the form of coconuts, which drop to the ground and either grow where they fall or due to their design they are able to travel for miles. Coconuts float, which means they can travel for long distances on the sea. To feed the seed whilst on its journey it has a supply of water inside, which is very sweet and what we know as coconut water. As soon as the nut reaches land and gets washed up on the shore, the seed is ready to grow.









Many coconuts are washed up on the shores here at Aride, and they can be seen sprouting along the top of the beach – in the area known as the beach crest.


The Pisonia Tree
The pisonnia tree is the main tree on Aride Island; it grows right across the island as both trees and bushes.









It is very clever how it seeds it self, it has lovely small white flowers which produce bullet shaped seeds which have a number of small fingers. These fingers are very sticky and they stick to everything that comes into contact with them, including our feet, as a result they can get moved great distances enabling the tree to spread.

The Fruit Bat Tree
This tree produces fruits that the fruit bat finds irresistible, they are about the size of lemons and one of the main foods that the fruit bat eats. The seeds are held inside the fruit and so when the bats produce dropping the seeds get spread right across the island. The fruit bats on Aride can fly for miles, sometime over to the main island of Praslin, over 6 miles away, so they will be transporting the seeds of Aride’s fruit bat tree without even realising it!

The Indian Mulberry Tree
Like the fruits of the fruit bat tree the Indian Mulberry fruits can transported by birds eating the seeds inside the fruit and spreading them in their droppings. The Indian Mulberry fruits are very desirable and a favourite of many of the birds here on Aride. The fruits ferment and become alcoholic and actually make the birds drunk.

We often see birds, particularly pigeons, drunk on the mulberry fruits, they stagger around unable to stand up or fly, so we put them in a quite place to sober up and to recover from their hangovers!!