Dec 22, 2009
Source: Times Online
To the rainforests of the Amazon and the mountains of Borneo, teams of explorers went forth from Kew Gardens to scour the world for undiscovered plants.
One researcher stayed at home, went for lunch, and stumbled across a new species in Kew’s own glasshouse.
Iain Darbyshire, a curator of African Botany, was strolling through the Princess of Wales conservatory during his lunch break when he spotted what turned out to be a previously unknown variety of Acanthus.
“I happened to be walking a different way through the glasshouse and noticed it because it was in full flower,” said Dr Darbyshire, who has been studying East African Acanthaceae in Kew’s Herbarium. “It was just because I was working in the group that I realised it was a new species.”
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The plant, now known to be part of the genus Isoglossa, was being used as tropical bedding because of its attractive leaves. It had been sent to Kew from Tanzania in the 1990s but misclassified under a different genus, Justicia.
“It was a great day — a real surprise. It’s very unusual and quite satisfying,” Dr Derbyshire said. The plant, similar to a common garden shrub known as Bear’s Breeches, looks a bit like mint, he said — “it would make quite a nice tropical border plant.”
Dr Darbyshire later discovered the species, thought to be endangered, had first been collected 100 years ago, and a specimen from 1950 was sitting in the Herbarium collection. On it was noted: “name urgently required”. A small matter of 60 years later, it is now known as Isoglossa variegata.
The plant is one of 292 new species described by Kew scientists in the year the Royal Botanic Gardens celebrate their 250th anniversary, including a 42-metre tall tree with exploding seed pods, a dwarf eucalyptus and seven varieties of wild coffee.
A Brazilian passionflower with edible egg-shaped fruits, 24 new palms, 38 orchids and a yam from South Africa which locals believe can treat cancer were also among the discoveries, about a third of which are thought to be endangered.
The Berlinia korupensis, a tree found in the rainforest of Cameroon, is the largest. Although it is a member of the pea family, it has a trunk a metre wide and sprouts 30cm pods which explode when ripe, shooting seeds far from the mother tree.
The wild coffees, from northern Madagascar, could help keep the espresso flowing, said Aaron Davis, Kew’s coffee expert, who estimates that 70 per cent of wild coffees are endangered.
“We’re still finding new species of coffee, including those directly related to crop plants,” he said. “Conserving the genetic diversity within this genus has implications for the sustainability of our daily cup, particularly as coffee plantations are highly susceptible to climate change.”
About 2,000 plant species are discovered around the world each year, with Kew botanists involved in about a tenth, according the Gardens’ director, Professor Stephen Hopper. “These new discoveries highlight the fact that there is so much of the plant world yet to be discovered and documented,” he said.
“Without knowing what’s out there and where it occurs, we have no scientific basis for effective conservation. It is vital that these areas of botanical science are adequately funded and supported.”
Professor Hopper himself contributed to the total by finding a metre-high eucalyptus in south west Australia and a quillwort in South Africa. The ancient aquatic plant, named Isoetes eludens because it eluded discovery for seven years, was found in a temporary rock pool on a remote mountaintop.
“To discover a completely new species in a small pool just 2m in diameter and 15cm deep was an unexpected delight,” Professor Hopper said.
