If you discovered a new plant, what would you call it?
Tuoi Tre reports that a flowering plant discovered in the Phong Dien Nature Reserve in Thua Thien-Hue Province over a year ago has officially been recognized as a new species. The species has the scientific name Deinostigma serratum F.Wen, L.N.Tuan & D.Dien and belongs to the Deinostigma W.T.Wang & Z.Y.Li genus of the Gesneriaceae family.
The name comes in part from Le Ngoc Tuan, director of the Thua Thien-Hue Province Forest Protection Department, who discovered the flower in December 2020 with colleagues from the Central Institute of Scientific Research, the University of Agriculture and Forestry under Hue University, and China's Guangxi Institute of Botany. Currently, the plant's main samples are being kept at the Vietnam Museum of Nature.
Within Phong Dien, the research team found specimens of the plant on wet cliffs around waterfalls and streams near the Rao Trang River. They sent DNA from the plant to research institutes around the world to determine whether it was a new species. "This is extremely exciting news not only for scientists but also for forest conservationists like us, as it demonstrates the biodiversity of the Phong Dien Nature Reserve," Tuan told the news source.
As with many newly discovered species, Deinostigma serratum is already threatened, having been listed as "Vulnerable" under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
[Photo via the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Thua Thien-Hue]
