Two tree species living underground and a palm are among the new plant species mentioned in 2023 and highlighted by scientists at the Royal Botanical Garden Kew in the United Kingdom.
The palm is unique because it is the only species that bears flowers and fruit almost entirely underground, and was discovered in Borneo. The trees were discovered in the deep Kalahari sands of the Angola highlands, where free-draining terrain has led a number of species to evolve to live at least 90% underground.
Other new species include an orchid found atop a volcano, mushrooms recovered from the seemingly barren waste of Antarctica, and a new fungus found in food waste in South Korea. The most mysterious new species is a seemingly carnivorous plant from Mozambique.
There are 400,000 named plant species, but scientists estimate there are another 100,000 that have not yet been described. Botanists are racing against time to discover many plants and fungi before the ongoing destruction of the natural world drives them to extinction. Lost species not only mean the loss of their unique biology forever, but also the potential use of humans as medicine, food, and even plastic recyclers.
Scientists around the world name nearly 2,500 new plant species and the same number of fungi each year. In 2023, RGB Kew researchers named 74 plant and 15 fungal species.
“Now more than ever, it is imperative that we go out into the field with our partners and do everything we can to find out which plant and fungal species we do not yet have a scientific description for,” Dr Martin said. Cheek is part of RBG Kew’s Africa team. “If we don’t, we risk losing these species without even knowing they exist. As we make these wonderful new discoveries, we must remember that nature is under threat and that we have the power to do something about it.”
Approximately 40% of these plant species are threatened with extinction as farmland and other habitats are razed for human development. However, 75% of the world’s undescribed plant species are currently thought to be at risk of extinction.
Dr Raquel Pino-Bodas, also from RBG Kew, said: “Despite fungi being one of the three major groups of eukaryotes, along with plants and animals, much of fungal diversity remains undiscovered. Only 5-10 per cent of existing species are known.”
He said it is critical to accelerate the search for new species: “Among this incredible diversity of fungal species, we are bound to discover new sources of food, medicines and other active compounds that can help us find nature-based solutions to grand challenges.”
Kew mycologist Dr Paul Kirk has found a new species of fungus in soya bean waste in South Korea. It is in the same genus as other fungi that thrive at high temperatures and can be pathogenic to humans, but this species is considered low risk.
“New species of fungi are not only found in remote, unexplored regions, but they can be found in every environment on the planet,” Pino-Bodas said.
Kew scientists Dr William Baker and Dr Benedikt Kuhnhäuser were informed about the subterranean palm by a Malaysian scientist and local communities who knew the plant and its bright red fruit. Baker said the finding shows that nature still has many surprises and that indigenous knowledge is a valuable tool for accelerated species discovery.
The new orchid species was accidentally found atop an extinct volcano on the Indonesian island of Waigeo. Botanists hoped to rediscover the blue orchid, which had not been seen for 80 years, and they did. But they also found a new orchid with gorgeous, bright red flowers at the summit of Mount Nok.
Antarctica is a poor place for plant predation; The icy continent is almost devoid of flowering plants, but is also home to many lichens. Lichens are a partnership between a fungus and algae and/or cyanobacteria. In 2023, Pino-Bodas and colleagues named three new species of fungi growing in lichens near the Spanish base on the Antarctic peninsula.
Another intriguing find was discovered in Mozambique: a plant covered with glandular hairs that trap insects like sunsets. But it turned out that the plant belongs to the genus. crepidorhopalon and is therefore unrelated to any known carnivorous plants. The plant has been shown to trap insects, and research is ongoing to determine whether the plant can digest them for nutrition.
Other species highlighted by Kew scientists include nine new tobacco species from Australia, the Madagascar orchid and a new violet relative from Thailand. The latter is known from only two localities, neither of which are protected, and is therefore currently considered to be in danger of extinction. A new plant species that produces indigo dye in South Africa is also threatened by farming and housing expansion.