Syzygium balfourii (Baker) J.Guého & A.J.Scott (1980:488)
Bois de clous
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Eugenia balfourii Baker in Fl. Mauritius: 116 (1877)
Conservation Status
Extinct (WCMC, 1992:220; Humphreys et al., 2019; Albani Rocchetti et al., 2022; POWO, 2024; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2025; Tatayah & Bégué, 2026)
Last record: 1874 (Balfour, 1879; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2025; Tatayah & Bégué, 2026)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution & Habitat
Rodrigues, Mascarene Islands
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Baker, J. G. (1877). Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles: A Description of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of those Islands. L. Reeve & Co., Convent Garden, London, UK.
Other references:
Balfour, I. B. (1877). Aspects of the phaenogamic vegetation of Rodriguez, with descriptions of new plants from the island. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 16(89): 7-25.
Balfour, I. B. (1879). The physical features of Rodriguez/ Botany [of Rodrigues]. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London 168: 302-387.
Albani Rocchetti, Giulia, Carta, Angelino, Mondoni, Andrea, Godefroid, Sandrine, Davis, Charles C., Caneva, Giulia, Albrecht, Matthew A., Alvarado, Karla, Bijmoer, Roxali, Borosova, Renata, Bräuchler, Christian, Breman, Elinor, Briggs, Marie, Buord, Stephane, Cave, Lynette H., Da Silva, Nílber Gonçalves, Davey, Alexandra H., Davies, Rachael M., Dickie, John B., Fabillo, Melodina, Fleischmann, Andreas, Franks, Andrew, Hall, Geoffrey, Kantvilas, Gintaras, Klak, Cornelia, Liu, Udayangani, Medina, Leopoldo, Reinhammar, Lars Gunnar, Sebola, Ramagwai J., Schönberger, Ines, Sweeney, Patrick, Voglmayr, Hermann, White, Adam, Wieringa, Jan J., Zippel, Elke Zippel and Abeli, Thomas. (2022). Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria. Nature Plants 8: 1385-1393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7 [Supplementary Tables S1-S6]
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2023). Uitgestorven. Op plantenjacht rond de wereld: 1-511. Sterck & De Vreese.
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2025). Plant extinction in the Anthropocene. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 207(3): 183-196. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boae045 [Appendix S1]
Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Govaerts, R., Sobral, N., Ashton, P., Barrie, F., Holst, B. K., Landrum, L. L., Matsumoto, K., Fernanda Mazine, F., Nic Lughadha, E., Proença, C. et al. (2008). World Checklist of Myrtaceae: 1-455. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]
POWO. (2024). Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 26 May 2024]
Strahm, Wendy. (1989a). Plant red data book for Rodrigues: 1-241. Knigstein.
Strahm, Wendy. (1989b). Plant Red Data Book for Rodrigues. Koeltz Scientific Books, Germany.
Tafforet, J. (attributed). (1726). Relation de l'isle Rodrigue. Anonymous MS in Archives Nationales, Fonds des Colonies C (4). 12. Paris. Proceedings Royal Society of Arts and Sciences Mauritius 4: 1-16.
Tatayah, V. and Bégué, J. A. (2026). Syzygium balfourii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2026: e.T149622651A149822201. Accessed on 16 July 2026.
Walter, Kerry S. and Gillett, Harriet J. (eds.). (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. lxiv + 862 pp.
WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre). (1992). Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's living resources. London: Chapman & Hall. xx + 594 pp.
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