Botanists Discover 17 New Eugenia Plant Species in Madagascar
Posted on May 22, 2015
Botanists have discovered 17 new Eugenia plan species in Madagascar. Eugenia is the largest woody plant genera with over 1000 species. There are now 68 known species of Eugenia in Madagascar and nearly half of them have been discovered in the past fifteen years.
The newly discovered species belong to the Myrtle family. The holotype specimen of Eugenia delicatissima, one of the newly discovered species, is pictured above. The new species are described in the journal PhytoKeys by Dr. Neil Snow, botanist and Director of the T.M. Sperry Herbarium at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, along with coauthors Martin Callmander and Pete Phillipson from the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Dr. Snow says in a statement, "Colleagues and their collaborators are doing fabulous work in Australia, India, Africa and South America. Many new myrtle species are discovered yearly, particularly in Western Australia and Brazil, the latter of which frequently includes new Eugenia species. It is enjoyable research, which is good, because Myrtle specialists have many years of field and lab ahead before we can more fully understand the remarkable richness of this family."
The research paper in PhytoKeys can be found online here. The paper also includes a new combination and three lectotypifications. The scientists assessed that four of the new species should be listed as Critically Endangered.
