Mauritian red bell tree

Red bell trees are found only on Mauritius and a few nearby islands in the Indian Ocean.

What makes red bell trees truly special is that they produce coloured nectar. This can be seen if you carefully look down into the flower – here you can see that the nectar is yellow.

Worldwide, only very few plant species have coloured nectar, and most of them, strangely enough, grow on Mauritius.

Studies have shown that day geckos of the genus Phelsuma pollinate the flowers when they visit them to drink nectar. Experiments have demonstrated that the geckos prefer coloured nectar over clear, colourless nectar, which is what most other flowers produce.

There are six species of red bell trees. All of them are rare, and several are threatened with extinction in their natural habitats. The Mauritian red bell tree is the least threatened of the species.