Jan 17 2025
Every year, botanists describe hundreds of new plants, algae, fungi, and lichens from across the Earth. Many of these newly described species come from the tropics of South America and Asia, but new species are also described from otherwise well-known floras such as North America. In 2024, NYBG Science Curators & Researchers described 19 species as new to science!
Systematics is the science of classifying biodiversity. Important in its own right, systematics also directly impacts conservation: we cannot conserve a species if we do not recognize it as distinct and do not have a name for it. A 2010 paper estimated there are approximately 70,000 plant species that remain to be described, and that natural history collections such as the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium are a primary source for finding new species. NYBG is a global leader in systematics and biodiversity science, and many of the species we describe face acute conservation concerns.
Enjoy these stories about the new species NYBG Science Curators & Researchers described in 2024!
Blakea eden. This new species is named for the Garden of Eden. The authors chose this name because the area from which it was collected is beautiful and many new species of Blakea have recently been described from here.
Blakea leoniae. This new species is named for Peruvian pteridologist Blanca León, who over the last 30 years has trained a generation of Peruvian botanists and has contributed significantly to our knowledge of Neotropical ferns.
Blakea pavida. Blakea pavida is only known from two remnant high-elevation cloud forests in northern Peru. The word "pavidus" is Latin for sacred, chosen because the authors had only encountered non-flowering Melastomataceae for several days prior to the discovery of B. pavida (which was in flower), which thus came as a major relief.
Blakea rojasiae. Blakea rojasiae is known from four localities in high-elevation remnant cloud forests, some of them with significant anthropogenic activity (agriculture and livestock) and none within a protected area. It is likely to be endangered.
Bryocentria pachydesma. This new fungus only parasitizes a single species of moss and is only known from a single location in Alabama.
Bulbophyllum psittacinum. Bulbophyllum is one of the most species-rich plant genera, with over 2,000 known species. This new species is endemic to Madagascar and was found in the Ankerana forest, part of the Ankeniheny-Zahamena corridor protected area in the eastern escarpment forests.
Bulbophyllum vespertilioides. The dark reddish-brown flowers of this new orchid hang downwards, like a bat, hence the name (vespertillo is Latin for bat, from vesper, the Latin word for evening ).
Cuatresia albertovelozii. This tomato relative is only known from the Dominican Republic. NYBG holds one of the largest plant and fungal collections from the Caribbean.
Epibryon harrisii. Epibyron (meaning "upon mosses") is a genus of fungi that only grown on and parisitize mosses. This new species was named for former NYBG research associate Dick Harris (1939—2021)
Ernestia rhenophytica. Rhenophytes are plants that grow in swift flowing rivers. This type of habiat is rare for the Melastomataceae family, with just 25 of the 5,110+ known species growing in rivers.
Rhynchospora barbosae. Curator Emeritus Wayt Thomas has been studying tropical sedges for years and recently has been revising a group of Rhynchospora species found in the highly endangered Atlantic forests of Brazil. These slow-growing grassy species only occur in intact forests and are very sensitive to disturbance. This critically endangered species is only found in a small, 12 km sq area of dry forest in the state of Espírito Santo. Compared to other species of the group, R. barbosae is unique in having large fruits and narrow leaves.
Rhynchospora eremica. The species name comes from the Greek “eremos” meaning solitary and often is used to refer to desert environments. Here, it describes the dry forest habitat, and that this species is known only from the type collection. Repeated trips to recollect it have been in vain as cattle have been allowed to graze in the area, disturbing the habitat.
Rhynchospora hamadryadis. In Greek and Roman mythology, a hamadryad was a woodnymph bonded to a certain tree and who died when the tree died. The term Hamadryades was used to describe the seasonal arid vegetation of the interior of north-eastern Brazil. This small species is known from three small areas in the critically endangered high-elevation dry forests of the state of Bahia.
Sciodaphyllum merinoi. This species is named in honor of R. Efrén Merino Santi, a graduate in Environmental Engineering of the Universidad Estatal Amazónica and a member of the university’s research team studying the floristics and dynamics of Ecuadorian forests. Efrén used his astonishing skill and dexterity as a tree climber to obtain specimens of many high-climbing, hemi-epiphytic Sciodaphyllum species.
Sciodaphyllum purocafeanum. This species is named in honor of Puro Coffee, an organic coffee company in the United Kingdom that has made significant donations to the UK-based World Land Trust, which supports land purchases for the reserves of the EcoMinga Foundation in the upper Rio Pastaza watershed and provides salary for the reserve guards. Puro Coffee has played a major role in facilitating this support, which has enabled EcoMinga to carry out its work on conservation of Ecuadorian forests, thereby protecting many locally endemic species of plants and animals.
Sciodaphyllum recaldiorum. This species is named collectively for the members of the Recalde family of the village of El Placer, Baños canton, Tungurahua, Ecuador, two generations of which (Jesus, Luis, Darwin, Diana, Santiago, and Abdon) have contributed for nearly two decades to the conservation of Ecuadorian forests as reserve guards for the EcoMinga Foundation properties and have also participated in and assisted with field-based research on the flora and fauna of the EcoMinga reserves. They have discovered several new species of trees, orchids, and frogs.
Sciodaphyllum zunacense. Sciodaphyllum zunacense has a highly restricted geographic range of about 4 km 2 . It is known from just two collections made at a distance of ca. 1 km from one another within the Río Zuñac Reserve.
Solenangis impraedicta. This is a new endangered angracoid orchid endemic to Madagascar. This new species presents the third-longest floral tube known in angiosperms (26—33 cm) only surpassed by two other orchid species from Madagascar and the longest spur of any flowering plant, relative to flower diameter. The discovery of a species with such an exceptionally long spur is a rare event, the most recent dating to 1965.
Triolena anisophylla. Anisophyllous leaves are pairs of leaves that are unequal in size: one leaf is much larger than the other. In Triolena anisophylla, the difference sizes is quite apparent, with the larger leaf being about 20 times as large as the smaller leaf!
