June 11, 2024, Sarasota, FL. | Selby Gardens research botanist, John L. Clark, is the lead author describing a new plant species, Amalophyllon miraculum, in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal PhytoKeys.

A new 2-inch-high plant species growing on vertical wet rocks has been discovered in the legendary biodiversity hotspot Centinela, a region popularised by a reported mass extinction of unique plant species. While the new species’ iridescent foliage and ephemeral flowers are remarkable, the finding’s primary importance lies in the forest’s existence and health. The discovery represents an inspiration for biodiversity conservation in an area the scientific community assumed to be a barren agricultural landscape of plant extinctions.

The tiny plant, with iridescent foliage and white ephemeral flowers, was found in a farmer’s backyard during ongoing collaborative research expeditions in western Ecuador, led by teams of Ecuadorian and international researchers. The expeditions resulted in the rediscovery of small forest fragments in a legendary hotspot known as Centinela that lies near a major urban area.

The forest fragments are less than 20 miles from Santo Domingo, a major city with a population of more than 300,000 people. Each forest fragment of Centinela is an isolated island of biodiversity surrounded by large swaths of agricultural landscape largely devoid of intact forest.

A seminal publication titled “Biological extinction in western Ecuador” brought attention to the rapid loss of rainforest in western Ecuador. It was authored by the late botanists Alwyn Gentry and Calaway Dodson, Selby Gardens’ first Executive Director, whose research inspired names such as Gasteranthus extinctus in recognition of the loss of more than 70-97% of rainforests from the western Ecuadorian lowlands due to agriculture. The late biologist E. O. Wilson named the phenomenon of species instantly going extinct when their habitat is destroyed as a “Centinelan extinction.”

The recent discovery of this and other new plant species surviving, along with several other critically endangered species in Centinela, represent a miraculous discovery that has shattered the preconception that the multitudes of life in the region had vanished entirely. The name Amalophyllon miraculum reflects the ‘miracle’ of its discovery in the unexpected fragments of protected forests.

“The heroic efforts of local landowners who maintained small patches of forests – usually surrounding waterfalls – were instrumental in conserving these remnant forest fragments,” Clark says.

Ongoing conservation initiatives by foundations and academic institutions such as the Ecuadorian conservation NGO Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco and the Jardín Botánico Padre Julio Marrero (JBJM) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador are also crucial to protecting the areas.

Images & Captions | Dropbox link:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/1l4heqb5ybqpz5y87loph/ABCrQJ02u7to7O0zstv8wjQ?rlkey=0hu0bvhc3ecz7s607ghk3ghk5&dl=0

Original source:
Clark JL, Fernández A, Zapata JN, Restrepo-Villarroel C, White DM, Pitman NCA (2024) Amalophyllon miraculum (Gesneriaceae), an exceptionally small lithophilous new species from the western Andean slopes of Ecuador. PhytoKeys 242: 307–316. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.242.118069

Website:

https://sites.google.com/view/vivacentinela/home

Video of initial discovery on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf8Da5RMpyI/?img_index=1

Research Contact:
Dr. John L. Clark, Research Botanist
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Email: jlclark@selby.org

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William Cinea (left) and Dr. John L. Clark (right)

Bruce Holst, vice president for botany at Selby Gardens, praised Cinéa’s energy and motivation in promoting botanical gardens. The research and conservation efforts of Cinéa and his team are crucial in safeguarding Haiti’s rich biodiversity and endangered plant species.

Selby Gardens Research Associates collaborate on shared research interests and collections-based efforts, expanding publications, advancing botanical research, and growing collections. Cinéa has a long-standing collaboration with Selby Gardens’ scientists, including working with Dr. John L. Clark on an expedition resulting in the discovery of new plant species.

Cinéa expressed the significance of this appointment for botanical science in Haiti and looks forward to strengthening research and preservation of Caribbean flora with Selby Gardens’ support.

Apart from founding Botanical Garden of Les Cayes, Cinéa initiated various conservation initiatives in Haiti, such as Nature Design-Haïti, Société Haïtienne de Botanique, and Eco-Entrepreneur Pro.

Click here for the full press release.

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The renewal of Clark’s appointment recognizes Selby Gardens’ scientific contributions and expands research opportunities.

As a Research Associate, Clark enjoys personal access to NMNH’s vast plant collections, which hold 5 million specimens.

The position also facilitates Clark’s collaborative research worldwide, including projects with Dr. Larry Skog, research botanist emeritus at the Smithsonian.

Clark has been collaborating with Selby Gardens on research since 2009, and and he joined the botany staff full-time in January 2023. He specializes in Gesneriaceae, an important plant family in Selby Gardens’ research and living plant collection.

Click here for the full press release.

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Collecting seeds of longbristle beaksedge (Rhynchospora megaplumosa). Photo by Wade Collier.

Florida supports one of the highest levels of plant diversity in the country, with about 3,200 native species. However, according to the nonprofit Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), hundreds are at high risk of extinction. Selby Gardens is a partner in a new regional collaboration to save Florida’s rare plants before it’s too late.

The Florida Plant Rescue project is a statewide seed-collections effort to secure and safeguard Florida rare plant species in conservation collections at botanical gardens. CPC puts the number of plant species in the state that are considered globally rare but not currently secured in such collections at 168. The initiative is led by and funded through the CPC, with seven participating institutions and more likely to join.

The partner institutions leverage their local, hands-on expertise to identify endemic species that aren’t yet formally listed as endangered but nonetheless need protection. Then they go on collecting expeditions to wild areas throughout the state to find and secure seeds from the plants, as well as monitor additional occurrences. Selby Gardens’ work so far has targeted three species: Manasota pawpaw (Asiminamanasota) and longbristle beaksedge (Rhynchospora megaplumosa), both from populations at Lake Manatee State Park; and the rare, epiphytic Florida star orchid (Epidendrum floridense), which occurs in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.

Epidendrum floridense plant growing in a deep water slough. Photo: Tatiana Arias.

“Saving rare plant seeds in conservation collections like this can safeguard a species against extinction,” says Bruce Holst, Selby Gardens’ vice president for botany. “Conservation and protecting plant biodiversity have been important activities since Selby Gardens was founded. This strategic initiative can safely secure rare plants long into the future.”

The seven participating institutions in Center for Plant Conservation’s Florida Plant Rescue initiative are:

• Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
• Bok Tower Gardens
• Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
• Atlanta Botanical Garden
• Montgomery Botanical Center
• Florida Native Plant Society
• Naples Botanical Garden

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John L. Clark, PhD, officially joined the Selby Gardens staff this January. The field botanist with expertise in gesneriads has been contributing significantly to science at Selby Gardens for more than two decades.

Since 2009, Clark has been affiliated with Selby Gardens as a research associate, collaborating with our staff scientists, adding to our collections, and helping to expand our publication base. He actually made his first donation of a specimen back in the mid-1990s. Now a full-time member of the Botany team, Clark concentrates his work on the family Gesneriaceae, flowering plants distributed throughout the world’s tropical forests. About a third of gesneriads are epiphytic, and thus a major focus of Selby Gardens’ research mission. In fact, the Gardens’ original seal, created by cofounder Dr. Carlyle Luer, includes illustrations of a bromeliad, an orchid, and a gesneriad.

Gesneriads are commonly grown horticulturally (think African violets, gloxinia, lipstick plants), and they are important scientifically as a model for understanding broad-scale patterns in the evolution, pollination, and diversification of plants. That’s where Clark comes in. An evolutionary biologist as well as a botanist, he is interested in systematics and biodiversity. He studies the evolution of plants, focusing on their identification, classification, and taxonomy.

John L. Clark, left, with colleagues in an Ecuadorean cloud forest.

Clark publishes his research and collects wild specimens prolifically, trekking to the Caribbean, the Andes, and elsewhere for field research. The body of photography and additional plant specimens he brings with him to Selby Gardens is varied and exceptional. “Once we tally it up, I’m pretty sure that John will have made one of the most significant donations of specimens to our collection in the history of the institution,” says Vice President for Botany Bruce Holst.

Clark remains a research associate with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. His previous appointments include curator of The University of Alabama’s herbarium and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. Most recently, Clark served as the Aldo Leopold Distinguished Teaching Chair at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Leopold was one of the foremost American wildlife conservationists of the 20th century and a 1905 graduate of the Lawrenceville School, and Clark has centered his own career on teaching and promoting a passion for biodiversity. His ability to connect with and inspire future scientists surely will boost Selby Gardens’ environmental education efforts too, both on our campuses and beyond.

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International bromeliad experts (l to r) Greg Brown (U.S.), Eric Gouda (Netherlands), Ivón Ramírez (Mexico), and Julian Aguirre-Santoro (Colombia) with Selby Gardens’ Bruce Holst in the Tropical Conservatory

Attendees of the 2022 World Bromeliad Conference got a bonus with this June’s event: access to one of the best scientifically documented collections of bromeliads in the world, right here at Selby Gardens!

The biannual show, put on by the Bromeliad Society International, was hosted for the first time ever in Sarasota, June 8-12. Conference goers had to wait two years for the opportunity. Originally scheduled for 2020, the Sarasota show was postponed by the pandemic. But the wait was worth it, according to Selby Gardens Vice President for Botany Bruce Holst.

“We got to share our collection with 120 bromeliad fanatics, and they loved it,” he said. The program included a morning-long visit to the Downtown Sarasota campus, where our President & CEO Jennifer Rominiecki welcomed attendees before they broke into small groups for a behind-the-scenes tour of our world-renowned living plant collection. Conference registrants also could visit the Gardens on their own throughout the week.

Four of the world’s leading bromeliad researchers spent several days on site working with the collection alongside Holst and his team. “Having experts visit our living and preserved collections to update names, identify previously unidentified plants in their specialties, and discover species not yet described for science helps us to improve the accuracy of the names we use,” said Holst. “Hosting Greg, Eric, Ivón, and Julian visit—two of whom were interns here during the early stages of their careers—was especially gratifying for me, as I have known them all for decades.”

See photos of Conference guests during their visit Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota Campus here.

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Vanilla is an orchid, and it’s the only genus of the plant that produces a crop commodity. Vanilla production and export mainly take place in just a handful of countries—Madagascar is one well-known by foodies—and that production is currently in a vulnerable state. That’s why the Crop Trust, an international organization focused on crop diversity, set out to create a global strategy for the conservation and use of Vanilla genetic resources.

Put simply, the genetic uniformity of cultivated Vanilla has resulted in significant risks to global production. A system to diversify that genetic base could make Vanilla plants more resilient and boost their quality and production. Selby Gardens scientists were invited by the Crop Trust to be a vital part of the team creating that game plan, because of their expertise with tropical orchids and the size of Selby Gardens’ living Vanilla collection.

Vanilla vulnerabilities

According to the Crop Trust report, the main species cultivated to produce vanilla are Vanilla planifolia Andrews, V. x tahitensis J.W. Moore, and V. pompona Scheide. Vanilla production is a source of income for small farmers and an important part of the economies of the countries where it’s grown for export. But in the face of growing global demand for vanilla, inefficiencies in production and market systems and the genetic uniformity of the cultivated species are cause for concern.

“As with any crop or any biological species, genetic uniformity leads to extreme vulnerability to pests or disease,” says Shawn McCourt, PhD, plant records keeper in the Botany department at Selby Gardens. “Once a pathogen overrides natural immunity in one individual, it can do so in all genetically identical individuals without further resistance.”

The Crop Trust report lays out strategies to improve the current global system for the conservation and use of Vanilla genetic resources that include a global initiative to secure the long-term conservation of Vanilla genetic resources in farmers’ fields, protected areas, and collections like the one at Selby Gardens.

“Without new combinations of genes from wild plants of the same species, or even from other wild Vanilla species, the crop may become locked into a set of genes that eventually offer little in the way of resistance to pests, disease, or changing environmental conditions,” says McCourt. “Fungal pathogens already pose a severe threat to the global crop, and a single infection can wipe out an entire Vanilla plantation in a matter of weeks. Vulnerability to pathogens leads to increased reliance on expensive pesticides and lower yields for the farmer, translating into soaring prices for the consumer.”

A ‘botanical Noah’s Ark’

That’s where a resource like Selby Gardens and its ex situ Vanilla collection comes in. (Ex situ collections are conservation collections of plants or animals kept in locations outside of their natural habitats.) “From these collections, mass propagation and future reintroduction into the wild becomes a possibility, if sufficient habitat exists,” says McCourt.

He points to something like Vanilla dilloniana, which has disappeared from the wild in Florida but remains widely distributed (though vulnerable) throughout the West Indies. Using conserved genetic materials of Vanilla dilloniana from private or public collections, “the species could potentially be restored to the wild in Florida, even though its original habitat has been paved over with concrete and steel,” says McCourt.

Increasing genetic diversity could lead to better yields of Vanilla beans or even a better-quality crop. “Wild Vanilla plants may even harbor genes for other unique compounds that could potentially improve or even surpass the flavors or aromatic profiles of those varieties currently on the market,” says McCourt.

Participating in these efforts to develop the Crop Trust’s global strategy for Vanilla conservation ties into one of the key pillars of Selby Gardens’ Strategic Plan—strategically stewarding and expanding our collections to inform worldwide conservation efforts.

“Ex situ collections held at botanical gardens, arboreta, and seed banks can each be thought of as a ‘botanical Noah’s Ark,’” says McCourt. “Without them, many species and landraces would already be lost forever. They offer the hope of a time of recovery and a wealth of plant genetic resources to sustain life on Earth, and humanity along with it, far into the future.”

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Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora Project is seeking partners and participants for this year’s City Nature Challenge.  

The City Nature Challenge is an international effort to get people outside to document their local biodiversity. Over the course of four days, “citizen scientists” around the globe will log as many observations of the natural world as they can. Then experts will help to identify those observations to see how many different species were documented. Read on to see how you can participate here in our region. 

Who should participate?

YOU! You don’t need to be a professional photographer, botanist, or naturalist to be a helpful citizen scientist. All you need is a smartphone or GPS-enabled camera, a free iNaturalist account, and a willingness to get out and explore! Our team, and the iNaturalist community, will help you with troubleshooting, photo tips, and species identification. Anyone can participate, but only observations made in Sarasota or Manatee counties will contribute to this challenge!

Why should you participate?

There is nature all around us, even in our urban areas! Let’s get to know the plants and animals living around us in Sarasota and Manatee counties. By documenting what species we have, we will discover what we need to protect. By participating in the City Nature Challenge, you will learn more about nature in your community and make our region (and world) a better place for all species. And let’s not forget, it’s FUN and EASY to participate!

Find Wildlife

It can be a plant, animal, or any other evidence of life found in your city.

 

Take a Picture

Take a picture of what you find. Be sure to note the location of the critter or plant.

 

Share

Share your observations through iNaturalist.

 

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Figure 1. Blooming flatwoods plum (P. umbellata) draped in Spanish moss on the perimeter of MSBG’s downtown campus (Photo by Sandra Robinson)

Figure 2. Chickasaw plum (P. angustifolia) in bloom along Mound Ave. at the downtown campus (Photo by Aaron Fink).

New transplants to Florida from more northerly latitudes often lament the seeming lack of seasonal change in Florida’s “endless summer.” They also bemoan the loss of the spring flowers and trees they had in their gardens and parks “back home.” To them, subtropical Florida is missing dramatic indicators of the change of seasons such as showy spring flowers, warm, green summer days redolent with the smell of freshly mown grass, fiery autumn leaves, and bare trees dusted with winter snow. The turn of the seasons is more subtle in the warmer subtropics, where plant growth occurs all 365 days of the year, yet it still happens. Even in the Sunshine State, leaves fall, frost threatens sometimes, and the arrival of spring is signaled by blooming trees. In the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, some of the earliest, and showiest, harbingers of the end of winter are members of the Prunus genus (Rosaceae) – better known as cherries, peaches, nectarines, almonds, and plums. We have Prunus species in subtropical Florida too, the most widespread of which include the native flatwoods plum (P. umbellata) (Fig.1) and the similar Chickasaw plum (P. angustifolia) (Fig. 2), as well as the evergreen Carolina laurel-cherry (P. caroliniana) (Fig.3). Northern Florida has two additional native species: American plum (P. americana) and black cherry (P. serotina). The unique scrub habitat in the center of the state also boasts a diminutive endemic, the endangered scrub plum (P. geniculata); while Miami-Dade County has an additional species, the state-threatened West Indian cherry (P. myrtifolia), an evergreen species that is also found in Mexico, Central America, South America and the West Indies. All of these are among the first trees to bloom in the spring, usually February or early March in south Florida, and late March to April in northern Florida.

In addition, fruit connoisseurs can plant non-native fruiting varieties of peach or nectarine (P. persica) and Japanese plum (P. salicina) bred by the University of Florida for “low chill hours” or the time the tree needs to endure cold below 45 degrees Fahrenheit in order to set blossoms (and thus, fruit).

Good low-chill peach varieties for south and central Florida include ‘UFSun’, “UFBest’, ‘Tropic Beauty’, or ‘UFOne’ (Sarkhosh et al. 2018A). Good Japanese plum varieties include the ‘Gulf’ series such as ‘Gulfbeauty’, ‘Gulfblaze’ or ‘Gulfgold’ (Sarkhosh et al. 2018B). Unfortunately, Naples and Miami area readers will have to look for other fruits, as none of these will reliably set fruit south of Ft. Myers. Native Chickasaw plum (P. angustifolia) and flatwoods plum (P. umbellata) also produce edible fruit though they are more often used for jellies due to their sour taste, unless superior cultivars are acquired. The Chickasaw plum in particular, was an important staple for Native American communities, especially the Chickasaw tribe of the southeast whose name it bears. They may have even brought the plum with them from west of the Mississippi river when they settled in the southeast sometime prior to European contact (Bartram 1791, Cole 2013).  The natural range of flatwoods plum extends as far south as Sarasota County, while that of Chickasaw plum extends only as far south as Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas Counties (Wunderlin et al 2021). Both are widely planted outside of their natural range, however. The two species look nearly identical and to the untrained eye, can be very hard to tell apart. Both bear abundant white flowers around 1 cm wide in February before the leaves appear, followed by small, tart, red, purple or yellow fruits approximately 2-3 cm in size in May-July.  The Chickasaw plum tends to form clonal colonies from root sprouts, while the flatwoods plum rarely produces suckers, but the key feature that distinguishes the two is the presence of deciduous glands on the teeth of the leaves of Chickasaw plum (Fig. 4) that are absent on the flatwoods plum.  We have both of these growing on the perimeter of the Orange Street parking area at the downtown campus, with the Chickasaw plum at the north fence facing Mound Ave. and the flatwoods plum at the east fence facing Orange St., and they are both in full bloom now, along with the Carolina laurel cherry in the central parking areas. Come have a look at them this week before they’re gone, since for a fleeting moment, they’ll have you imagining you’re back in a northern spring of falling cherry blossom…

Figure 3. Fragrant, blooming Carolina laurel-cherry (P. caroliniana) in central parking lot at MSBG’s downtown campus (Tree photo by Sandra Robinson, below is a close-up of flowers by Aaron Fink)

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Flowers of the pink trumpet tree at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus (Photo by Bruce K. Holst)

Written by Shawn McCourt, Ph.D., Plant Records Keeper

Just beside the path south of the Children’s Rainforest Garden at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ downtown campus is a beautiful, deciduous shade tree that heralds every spring with thousands of 2-3” pink-lavender, trumpet-shaped flowers set against the deep cerulean skies of February and March. It’s currently labeled as Handroanthus impetignosus, a large, commercially important timber tree; however, it has recently come to light that it may be a similar and somewhat smaller species, Handroanthus heptaphyllus, which has a more restricted natural range than the former. H. impetignosus has one of the longest geographic ranges of any tree species- it extends from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, a distance of at least 5,000 miles (8,000 km) as the plane flies. In contrast, H. heptaphyllus is found only in South America (see map), in the mata atlantica of coastal Brazil, from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul, in the Paraná drainage of Paraguay and northeastern Argentina, and sparsely across the moist regions of the Chaco west to Bolivia at elevations below 1000 meters (Gentry 1992). It is the national tree of Paraguay, where it blooms in September (spring in the southern hemisphere). Both species have palmate leaves with 5-7 leaflets, but those of H. heptaphylla are serrate and to  about 10 cm long while those of H. impetignosus are usually entire and are up to 20 cm long. The former also tends to be a smaller tree (to 15 m) and has deeply furrowed bark, while the latter is a larger tree (to 30 m), with somewhat smooth, greyish bark (Hodel et al. 2015). 

The genus Handroanthus (Bignoniaceae) was formerly classified with the closely related Tabebuia, but recent molecular work reveals them to be separate genera. While both consist of trees with yellow, pink, or white trumpet flowers, Handroanthus is distinguished from Tabebuia through phylogenetics and through several morphological characters, including the important fact that Handroanthus wood is among the hardest and heaviest known, unlike the brittle wood of many Tabebuia species. The heartwood is darker than the surrounding sapwood, and contains large quantities of lapachol, a toxic phenolic derivative of vitamin K that has shown promise as an antibacterial, antifungal, and as a potential drug for the treatment of some cancers, as well as malaria and other diseases cause by protozoans (Ravelo et al. 2003).  Handroanthus consists of 30 species of trees, all of which go by the common names poui, pau d’arco, lapacho, guayacan or ipê (pronounced ee-PAY). In English, they are simply called trumpet trees. The wood of H. impetignosus and to a lesser extent that of H. heptaphylla, is known as brazilwood, Brazilian walnut, or ipê in the timber trade and it is exported abroad, including to the United States, where the wood is popularly used as outdoor decking because of its durability. In fact, the Mangrove Walkway at Selby’s downtown campus is clad with ipê wood. While the genus Handroanthus consists of many commercially important timber trees, some species are also very popular ornamental trees, and have been widely planted both in their native regions and in tropical & subtropical regions around the world. If you have the space and you’re looking for a durable, carefree, large tree for summer shade and spring color, you can hardly beat Handroanthus. Come see ours in bloom this week at the downtown campus or look for their cotton candy pink blooms set against the blue sky around town.

Close-up of the flowers (top) and leaves (bottom) of the pink ipé at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus (Photos by Bruce K. Holst)

Native range of Handroanthus impetignosus ● and H. heptaphyllus ★   (adapted from Gentry 1992)

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