A new species emerges from the shadows
Researchers from the Plant Diversity, Adaptation, and Development Laboratory (IRD / University of Montpellier) contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown flowering plant. Many questions remain.
It lived hidden from the world and could likely have remained so for centuries, lurking in the dense Gabonese rainforest. This plant is Sirdavidia solannona, a flowering plant brought out of obscurity by Gabonese and French botanists from the Ecology, Systematics, and Evolution (University of Paris-Sud / CNRS) and Plant Diversity, Adaptation, and Development (IRD / University of Montpellier) laboratories. For any botanist, the discovery of an unrecorded plant is the holy grail. When, on top of that, it belongs to no known genus, it’s a real jackpot!
New species
The discovery of this plant with its delicate red flowers is, to say the least, unexpected. The region where it grows—the Crystal Mountains—is, in fact, one of the areas of Gabon most extensively explored by botanists. Proof that the rainforest and its labyrinth of vegetation still hold many surprises…
Analysis of DNA sequences confirmed the need to create a new genus to classify this plant, whose closest relative turned out to be a species endemic to Tanzania, located in an isolated forest more than… 3,000 km away!
Another curiosity is that Sirdavidia solannona, which belongs to the Annonaceae family, is characterized by a pollination method never before observed among the Magnoliidae (the group of plants that includes, among other families, the Annonaceae). Many unknowns therefore remain to be unraveled to unravel the mysteries of this species. One thing is certain, however: Sirdavidia solannona can say goodbye to its tranquility…