Missouri Botanical Garden

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Missouri meets Madagascar
The Missouri Botanical Garden has sustained a research program in Madagascar, a biologically rich island nation off the east coast of Africa, for decades.

Map of Madagascar‑ Learn more.

Two resident botanists are stationed in the capital of Madagascar; they work with a talented staff of 70 local Malagasy botanists and botanists-in-training.

The Garden has supported the expansion of the herbarium there, a multi-tiered botanical training program, and development of conservation initiatives and publications.

Garden scientists are involved in the creation of forest preserves and are teaching sustainable agriculture techniques and resource use to local residents so they can survive without destroying the forest. Madagascar's flora is one of the world's richest, with tremendous numbers of species found nowhere else.

Of its 10,000 to 12,000 plant species, 80% are endemic (including more than 1000 species of orchids). Nine plant families are found nowhere else in the world.

Support the Garden's work in Madagascar by donating to the Henry Shaw Fund.

A Boycott of Malagasy Wood
Malagasy government’s decree for precious wood export will unleash further environmental pillaging

Containers of illegally harvested rosewood

This has been an exceptionally challenging year for both the Malagasy people and Madagascar’s rich and unique plants and animals. A coup has resulted in political instability. Illegal exploitation of timber and precious woods has surged.

Madagascar has 47 species of rosewood and over 100 ebony species that occur nowhere else. Many are now at the brink of extinction. No forest is safe. Even the country’s most prestigious nature reserves and popular tourist destinations have been targeted.

Support the Garden's work in Madagascar by donating to the Henry Shaw Fund.

The Missouri Botanical Garden joined worldwide conservationists and scientists in issuing the following open letter to the government of Madagascar:

Read an Open Letter to the Malagasy Government.

Do you know where your guitar came from?

Cut trunk of rosewood, which is frequently and illegally being harvested in Madagascar.

Ebony and rosewood are both used in the manufacture of musical instruments, among other items.

The Missouri Botanical Garden joins the National Geographic Society and other conservation organizations to urge consumers to boycott these consumer goods made of illegal wood.

So before you buy, ask where the wood used in manufacture originated.

Learn more about the boycott and the environmental devastation of Madagascar at National Geographic.