Record numbers of Wright’s gardenia, one of the world’s rarest and most fragrant trees, have been counted on the tiny tropical island of Aride in Seychelles.
The only place in the world where the critically endangered tree occurs naturally is on the 72-hectare granite island in the Indian Ocean. The tree was once found on other, larger islands in the Seychelles archipelago but its sturdy wood was harvested for firewood, leading to its disappearance from everywhere except Aride.
