Newly discovered plant species store manganese in leaves

[Judi Lynn]

18 May 2020
Leiden scientists have discovered a new plant genus with two new species at a potential nickel mine site in Indonesia. Remarkable characteristic of the plants: they store manganese in their leaves.

At the Wedabaai on the island of Halmahera (North Moluccas), entrepreneurs wanted to open a new nickel mine. But before they got their permission, they had to perform an environmental impact assessment. The inventory of the flora and fauna present revealed a surprising discovery.

Brand new plant genus
Leiden researchers did not identify one, but two new species in the plants from the site. They could not classify them into existing plant genera, but did conclude that both new species belong to the same genus. That new genus was given the name Weda. The species are published in the Journal of Systematics and Evolution. First author of the publication is Naturalis researcher and Professor of Biology Peter van Welzen, botanical artist Esmée Winkel, associated with the Leiden Hortus botanicus, made illustrations of the new species.

It's a rare discovery, says Roderick Bouman, who is a PhD candidate at the Hortus botanicus and co-author of the study. 'Sometimes an existing group is broken up based on DNA research. But discovering an unknown group, as was the case here, is very rare.'

Not nickel, but manganese
Bouman himself does a lot of genetic kinship research, for example, he is working on reclassifying the genus Phyllantus. For the Weda study, he also helped with the DNA data of the new species.

More:
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2020/05/newly-discovered-plant-species-store-manganese-in-leaves

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Very good read. Thanks Judi Lynn.❤ nt