Spices and fruit

Cinnamon or Cinnamomum zeylanicum is from Sri Lankan origin, and introduced in the Seychelles in1772 by Pierre Poivre. It is very common on Silhouette, and cultivated for both its bark and leaves. Out of the leaves oil is distilled, and the bark is dried and ground into a powder which is utilized for flavouring food. The cinnamon industry was for many

years the second, agricultural industry of the Seychelles, providing work for thousands of workers. This plant is very common on Silhouette.

Drying cinnamon bark

Corosol

Mango or Mangifera indica introduced for its fruits from South-East Asia. There is a tree in the garden of the manager’s house.

Psidium guayava or guava is a small tree about 10 meters high from tropical American origin. Its fruit has the size and shape from a big lemon. There are a few of these trees next to the hen house beside the guest house, and a little higher than the small banana plantation on the way to Jardin Marron.

 Musa spec. or banana tree, both bananas as a fruit as well as bananas to cook or bake grow on Silhouette. You can see them on the way to Jardin Marron or near the mausoleum.

Carica papaya in creol pawpaw. The papaya was first described by the Spanish chronicler Oviedo in 1526 from the Caribbean coast of Panama and Colombia.This herbevorious plant is abundant on Silhouette.A real forest of papaya trees grows on the dump behind the old chicken farm on the way to Anse Cipaille.

Ker-de-bef in Creole, cherimoya or Annona cherimola is a South American tropical fruit with the shape of a hart. Ker-de-bef comes from the French “coeur de boeuf” or “cow hart”. It is a sweet creamy fruit. There is a small tree in front of the coconut oven.

Tjiku

Ananas

Wild vanilla or Vanilla phalaenopsis  Endemic

A leafless plant, only occurring on the Seychelles, and often confused with Vanilla roscheri from Madagascar.

Cultivated vanilla or Vanilla planifolia

Vanilla is no longer cultivated on Silhouette. In the mountains you still can find these plants in the wild.