An enormous new palm tree that flowers itself to death has been discovered in a remote area of north-western Madagascar.
Towering more than 18 metres above the forest floor with fan-shaped leaves 5 m in diameter, the evolutionarily distinct tree represents a new genus of palm. It is the largest palm ever found in Madagascar and one of the world鈥檚 biggest flowering plants.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 a species that is so significant from all sorts of perspectives, it鈥檚 kind of embarrassing as a botanist that we didn鈥檛 find it until now,鈥� says , head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the UK.
Named Tahina spectabilis, the plant is the only Madagascan member of a family of palm trees found scattered across the Arabian Peninsula, Thailand, and China.
Accidental find
Baker says 95% of the world鈥檚 palms flower at a steady rate throughout their lives making this newly discovered plant鈥檚 explosive end-of-life reproduction all the more unusual.
鈥淭his thing just grows and grows, and then flowers itself to death,鈥� says Baker, a study co-author. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing way to go.鈥�
The giant palm was first found by Xavier Metz, a local cashew plantation manager who stumbled upon one of the trees while picnicking with his family, and was struck by the massive candelabra of flowers sprouting from its top.
Photos Metz took of the tree soon reached Baker and colleagues at Kew who later confirmed the plant鈥檚 unique lineage through DNA testing.
Madagascar has 170 known species of palms, however, most of that diversity occurs along the island鈥檚 eastern rainforest belt, where botanists have focused their search for new organisms in recent decades.
Unknown origins
, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis, US, applauds the discovery, but says he feels a large number of additional palms remain to be discovered on the biologically diverse island.
Raven says he is unsure how the plant ended up in Madagascar, which was connected to both Africa and India in its geologic past.
He notes, however, that most of the country鈥檚 flora and fauna reached the island via dispersal over or through the water from continental Africa, a distance of roughly 400 kilometres.
The newfound palm is limited to a relatively small area at the foot of a limestone outcrop and researchers estimate that only about 100 individuals exist.
Researchers with Kew鈥檚 are currently working with local villagers to develop a way to sell seeds from blooming trees that would benefit the local economy and help safeguard the trees鈥� future.
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