The Chenille Plant

This vertical airmail denomination completes the 1972 nature collection with a detailed botanical rendering of the Chenille Plant (Acalypha sanderi, noted taxonomically as Acalypha sanderii), also colloquially termed the red-hot cat's tail. The vignette captures a cluster of soft, ovate green leaves supporting multiple elongated, weeping, velvet-textured pendulous spikes composed entirely of tiny, tightly packed bright red pistillate flowers. Historically, this definitive issue highlights a striking Malesian shrub that was introduced and widely cultivated across Comorian estate gardens and public squares for its ornamental value. By archiving this fast-growing tropical cultivar, the territorial postal system preserved a permanent record of the exotic horticultural varieties that thrived within the fertile, moisture-rich volcanic soils of the archipelago.