Lets Use Indigenous Ornamental Plants!

Emmanuel Obot (Nigerian Conservation Foundation) in Farafina contends that local plants are better suited to the indigenous environment:

In 1906, significant shipping activities were underway in coastal Nigeria following the introduction of palm oil into the international commodity market. Authorities were convinced that this heightened activity would lead to coastal erosion. To forestall this, the authorities introduced the Nypa Palm (Nypa fruticans) from the Singapore Botanic Gardens to the Calabar and Oron regions between 1906 and 1912, purportedly to stabilize the shoreline and prevent erosion. At present, this horizontal growing Gregarious Palm has become invasive, actively displacing the indigenous mangrove species in both urban and rural waterways especially in Calabar, Oron, Port Harcourt and Warri.

The native mangrove is more diverse: made up of a mosaic of woody plants, palms, shrubs and attractive herbs such as Aframomum sp. and Vanilla africana (the source of the delectable vanilla essence used in ice creams and cakes). These plants also support diverse fauna which sustain the human populations living around them and the food base of the complex food web of the marine organisms including valuable estuarine and near shore fisheries. The beauty of these native wildflowers is breathtaking; Nypa stands, on the other hand, are sterile.

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Photos courtesy of Farafina