FROM toothy toadstools to ghost palms in Borneo, close to 200 new plants and fungi were introduced to the scientific world in 2024.
Over the past 12 months ccientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and their collaborators have named approximately 149 plants and 23 fungi from virtually every corner of the globe. Amongst these are new fungi from Europe and the Africa, climbers from tropical Asia, and five beautiful orchids from across Indonesia.
They say other highlights include a bracket fungus found in Buckinghamshire in the UK, a ghostly palm from the island of Borneo, and an enigmatic family of plants without the ability to photosynthesise, and relies entirely on mycorrhizal fungi for sustenance.
However, several of the new species are already at risk of extinction, such as a Critically Endangered species of Vietnamese liana that is threatened by the clearing of its natural habitat for the manufacture of cement. Last year, Kew's scientists warned in the State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2023 report that as many as 3 in 4 undescribed plants are already threatened with extinction.
Dr Martin Cheek, Senior Research Leader in RBG Kew's Africa team, says: “The sheer privilege of describing a species as new to science is a thrill that not many will ever get to experience. ”The devastating reality is that more often than not, new species are being found on the brink of extinction and it's a race against time to find and describe them all. Biodiversity loss is a crisis that affects us all: every unknown species we lose could have been a potential new food or new medicine that we never even knew existed.“
Every year scientists find an average of 2,500 new plants and 2,500 fungi, and estimates indicate there could be as many as 100,000 plant species left to uncover. For fungi, it is a much higher estimate between two and three million species unknown to science.
Anna Bazzicalupo, Research Leader in Comparative Fungal Biology at RBG Kew, says there are more than 2 million species are waiting to be described, and an overwhelming number of them are likely to go extinct.
“There have been many positive developments in the field this year, however. Key among them was the Fungal Conservation Pledge at COP16, which will help prioritise the protection and conservation of fungi and put the kingdom of Funga firmly on the map.”
Here are the top 10 weird, wonderful, and intriguing species new to science in 2024:
Ghost Palm
This highly distinctive rattan or climbing palm has remained without a scientific name until now and is known as Plectocomiopsis hantu. The name hantu is the Indonesian and Malay word for ghost, due to its ghostly appearance, with white undersides to the leaves and grey stems, and because scientifically it is mysterious and still incompletely known.
There are about 800 described toadstool species in the genus Russula globally; recognised by the absence of a veil, their brittle gills, and apple flesh-like stalks that often smell of fish. Now DNA sequencing has distinguished three new species of Russula that have long been a puzzle to separate. The species are: Russula lapponica, Russula neopascua and Russula olympiana. The 'black-souled' Colombian Aphelandra is related to the widely cultivated Brazilian zebra plant (Aphelandra squarrosa) and hails from the dry forests of north-west Colombia where it is named 'black soul' due to its black heartwood. It is one of many new acanths (plants from the Acanthaceae family) described as new to science by a partnership of two botanists working on Colombian acanths and has been given the formal name of Aphelandra almanegra. The name almanegra is a combination of the Spanish words for soul and black.
Most flowering plants have green leaves and depend on sunlight to make carbohydrates (sugar molecules) through photosynthesis, while relying on their roots and mycorrhizal fungi to boost the uptake of minerals in exchange for some of those sugars. Some plants, however, have learned to 'cheat' their fungal partners and take all their needs from them, losing in the process their green pigmentation. They only appear above ground to fruit and flower, such as the famous ghost orchid. Scientists have now named an entirely new family of plants with this peculiar feeding quirk, calling it Afrothismiaceae after the genus Afrothismia.
The discovery of a new herb from Guinea in West Africa has caused something of a stir among botanists. Officially named Virectaria stellata, the species belongs to the genus Virectaria in the family Rubiaceae, one of the largest families with thousands of species. Oddly enough, V. stellata is characterised by star-shaped (stellate) hairs, which has never been seen in this family before.
When you turn over a toadstool, you are likely to see gills or pores beneath the caps that act as a means of spore dispersal. But this is not the case for several fungi, particularly those in the genus Phellodon, where the gills have been replaced by teeth-like structures (as seen in the attached image).
Scientists typically consider fungi in this genus to be an indicator of overall good quality forest habitat due to their sensitivity to nitrate pollution. DNA sequencing has now revealed four new Phellodon species, three of which occur in the UK.
There is a new genus and individual species endemic to Vietnam, in the tropical liana family Malpighiaceae. The genus is named Chlorohiptage after its flowers, which are uniquely green rather than the usual yellow seen in the family. Scientists say the limestone karst habitat of the critically endangered species is being cleared for quarries to make cement that is mostly sold overseas.
Indonesia with its 17,000 plus islands, is home to some of the most spectacular biodiversity in the world. Indonesian and Kew orchid specialists have found five new orchids from various sites across the archipelago have been published in 2024. The species are: Coelogyne albomarginata Yudistira. Coelogyne spinifera Yudistira. Dendrobium cokronagoroi Sulistyono. Dendrobium wanmae and Mediocalcar gemma-coronae.
A marzipan-scented liana has been named after a Guinean botanist. Keita deniseae is a new species and genus of African rainforest liana, characterised by the strong smell of marzipan given off by its roots and stems when scraped.
Cheniella is a genus of tendrilled forest lianas in the bean family that occur from India to SE Asia. Three new species in the genus have been discovered all in southern China. All three species are under threat from human habitat clearance for cinnamon farming. C. longistaminea, flowers only at night and is pollinated by moths.
