New mistletoe species discovered by Kew Gardens experts

Victoria Gill BBC News 20 Dec 10;

A new species of tropical mistletoe has been described by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. The research team found the plant on an expedition to Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique in 2008.

Now, just in time for Christmas, they have confirmed that Helixanthera schizocalyx is new to science.

The plant tops a list of Kew's botanical discoveries of 2010, which includes a Vietnamese orchid and an exceptionally rare tree from Cameroon.

Butterfly specialist, Colin Congdon, spotted the mistletoe in the dense foliage near the summit of Mount Mabu.

He realised that it was different from anything he had seen on the mountains in neighbouring Malawi and Tanzania. Closer inspection back at Kew confirmed it as a new species.

Mistletoes are "hemi-parasitic", meaning they take some of the nutrients they need from other plants.

When birds eat the small fleshy white sweet fruits, the seeds are wiped onto branches of trees, where they stick. Once germinated, the root grows into the living tissue of the tree to "suck out" its nutrients.

Giant genome

Another highlight from this year was the discovery of the largest genome of any living species studied so far. This was found in Paris japonica, a subalpine plant endemic to Honshu, Japan.

Its genome is 50 times the size of the human genome - so large that if this line of genetic code was to be stretched out, it would be taller than the tower of Big Ben.

Plants with such large genomes may be at greater risk of extinction as biologists believe they are less able to adapt to environmental changes.

The other plant discovery highlights from 2010 include:

#Lustrous Vietnamese orchid(Dendrobium daklakense).
This beautiful orchid, with white and orange flowers, was first collected in 2009 by a local plant hunter in the Dak Lak province of southern Vietnam. Botanists at Kew suspect it is already endangered.

# Cameroon canopy giant (Magnistipula multinervia). At 41m, the gigantic but critically endangered tree towers above the canopy of the lush green rainforests of Korup National Park, where it was found. The team used alpine climbing equipment to scale its heights and collect specimens of its fruit from which to identify it. Only four of these trees are known to exist.

# New palms in Madagascar.
With the help of local palm expert, Joro Rakotoarinivo, Kew scientist John Dransfield has described no fewer than 14 new species of Madagascan palms this year, all of which are threatened in the wild. Among these are Dypsis metallica, which has thick, steely-blue leaves and Dypsis dracaenoides, which resembles a spiky dragon tree.

# Medicinal aubergine (Solanum phoxocarpum). Commonly known as 'Osigawai' in the local Masai language, the plant was discovered during an expedition to Kenya's Aberdare mountainous cloud forests. It is used medicinally by local people, but Kew scientists say it may be poisonous.

# Wild Irises from the Andes.
Researchers found three new Bolivian iris species from the genus Mastigostyla. One of these (Mastigostyla chuquisacensis) is found in the sandy hollows between rocks on sandstone mountain ridges near Sucre. This species could become an ornamental garden plant.

More Reason for Christmas Kisses: New Mistletoe Found
Wynne Parry, LiveScience 20 Dec 10;

This Christmas, a new tropical cousin joins a traditional evergreen decoration. British researchers announced that they have identified a new species of mistletoe, a partially parasitic plant that grows on stunted trees in the coffee family near the summit of Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique.

"This is truly a completely new discovery," said Bill Baker, senior research botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom.

This tropical mistletoe, dubbed Helixanthera schizocalyx, is a relative of the European and North American varieties, sprigs of which are hung over doorways around Christmas with the expectation that couples passing beneath them will kiss, a tradition that may have pagan roots.

Tropical mistletoes, like this one, can have bright, tubular flowers that are often red, according to Baker. Five specimens of this species have been collected so far, however, flowers have not yet been observed to open in the field.

"Quite often the buds are slightly greenish, and then they color up when they are open. I suspect they will come out yellow," Baker said.

The berries have not yet been observed either, according to Baker.

Most mistletoe are partially parasitic plants, meaning that it in addition to sucking nutrients from a tree, mistletoe has green leaves that use photosynthesis to produce its own energy. Tropical mistletoes collaborate with birds and insects that pollinate them while feeding on the nectar of the flowers. This new species is believed to be pollinated by insects, and it was spotted by a butterfly specialist, Colin Congdon, according to Kew's species description.

And while the plant was collected during an expedition in 2008, it wasn't until this year that scientists identified and determined it to be vulnerable to extinction. This is common for newly discovered species, Baker said.

"They very often tend to have narrow ranges and are under threat and this is why whenever we talk about new species, we tend to talk about things disappearing before we have even named them and found out what their properties are," Baker told LiveScience.

Although it has only been identified on this particular mountain, the researchers speculate that it may also live on nearby mountains.

The new mistletoe topped the list of the year's top botanical discoveries at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Other finds included a Vietnamese orchid with glossy, white-and-bright-orange flowers; four individuals of a new species of 135-foot (41-meter) tall canopy tree in Cameroon; 14 species of new Madagascar palms; and a wild, medicinal aubergine (also called an eggplant) in East Africa.