Superglue plant and ‘miracle berry’ among 2019’s new finds
A snowdrop discovered
on Facebook, a miracle berry that tricks your tastebuds and a rubbery shrub
that oozes its own superglue are among new plant species that were discovered
in 2019. Others identified by
experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, include a ylang-ylang tree of which
just seven individuals are known to exist, a new candy-striped violet and a
fungus with pink fruiting bodies that can fight cancer and viruses.
Discovering and giving
scientific names to new species is the crucial first step to protecting them,
the scientists said. Kew scientists officially named 102 plants and eight fungi
in 2019, but many are already in danger of extinction. The major threats are
the destruction of natural habitat for farmland, timber, dams and mining, as
well as the impacts of the climate crisis.
Plants
account for 82% of all life on Earth by weight (humans are just 0.01% ) and they underpin all life, producing oxygen and food and providing shelter
and medicines. There are almost 400,000 known species of plant, about 2,000
new species are named every year....
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/17/superglue-plant-and-miracle-berry-among-2019s-new-finds
