A surprising finding has emerged in the botanical world. Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens have discovered the only known member of the palm family (Arecaceae) HE develops and bears fruit almost entirely underground. For this reason, this new species was named. underground pinanga.
Native to the tropical island of BorneoIn Southeast Asia, the plant is well known to locals who are familiar with its bright red fruit, a sweet, juicy delicacy eaten in parts of the island. But, had gone unnoticed by plant scientists He has so far described about 300 different species of palms on this large island.
underground pinanga joins the more than 2,500 palm tree species known to sciencehalf of them may be in danger of extinction.
According to the international research team, P. underground It can be found scattered throughout the primary rainforests of western Borneo, crossing state lines from Sarawak in Malaysia to Kalimantan in Indonesia. Prior to its scientific description, the plant was known in at least three Borne languages under the names Pinang Tanah, Pinang Pipit, Muring Pelandok, and Tudong Pelandok.
hidden in sight
Although the plant and its fruit are well known to the indigenous peoples of Borneo, it has been completely overlooked by the scientific community. P. underground, to the surprise of the authors themselves. According to the researchers, this highlights the need to collaborate more closely with indigenous communities and their complex knowledge of land and forests.
Actually, Researchers were first alerted to the plant’s existence by co-author Paul Chai, a Malaysian botanist. and this gives names to the types of dates chaiana pinanga. Paul first encountered the palm tree in 1997 while visiting the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary in Sarawak. Pushing aside to get a better view of the thick leaves surrounding a young date palm, he noticed the exposed fruit. There were several plants, but only one fruit. In 2018, Kew scientists Benedikt Kuhnhäuser, Peter Petoe and William Baker revisited the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary and collected several palm tree specimens for scientific research.
“A once-in-a-lifetime discovery”
Professor Benedikt Kuhnhäuser from RBG Kew said: “Had it not been for the warning from our Malaysian colleague Paul Chai, we would probably have mistaken this exciting new species for an ordinary palm seedling and weeded it out.” we have scientifically described a case of geobloom, an incredibly rare underground flower.and the first known of its kind in the entire palm family. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
“We have scientifically identified an incredibly rare case of geobloom, an underground flower”
Independent of the team, Indonesian researcher and lead study author Agusti Randi found a pair of palm specimens in Kalimantan in 2017. At least one of them was found to be taken out by wild boars, while the others were eaten or crushed. animals. Researchers from Indonesia, Malaysia and Kew have teamed up to scientifically describe this unusual palm tree as a new species for science.
an unusual discovery
Agusti Randi of the National University of Singapore explains: “When I first encountered this dwarf palm in a forest in West Kalimantan in 2017, a group of wild boars was digging the ground around a population. P. undergroundAnd I found several ripe fruits with a striking bright red color lying on the ground.. I noticed that much of the soil around the trunks of this palm tree was dug up by wild boars in search of fruit underground. Their excrement was also scattered in puddles with the seeds they contained.”
At first glance, the species appears to be a young plant of other common palm trees in the Borneo rainforest. Palm seedlings often cover the forest floor in tropical rainforests and It is very difficult to detect even for the most expert botanist.and consequently tends to be overlooked in botanical studies. In this case, however, these seemingly young plants are actually fully developed adults, with their reproductive parts hidden below the soil surface.
But despite Professor Chai’s attention, scientists needed to prove that it was indeed a new species. There are more than 140 palm species in the genus. pinangamost are small, upright plants that can be found on the underside.
More than 100 of these species are found in Southeast Asia, and Borneo is the center of diversity. to differenciate underground pinanga as a real innovation that requires meticulous work by Randi, who is an expert in the field. pinangaHe carefully compared specimens of this palm with all other known Bornean species of this genus before confirming that it was a new species.
Flowers and fruits underground
The vast majority of flowering plants (angiosperms) have evolved to develop their flowers and fruits above the ground, which help facilitate pollination and seed dispersal. However There is a small subset of plants that have evolved to thrive and bear fruit underground, processes known as geoblooming and geocarpy.observed in at least 171 species in 89 genera and 33 plant families, respectively. For example, peanuts develop above ground, but then the fruit develops underground. However, fruiting and flowering only underground is an extremely rare phenomenon and has only been observed in the small orchid genus to the authors’ knowledge. rhizantella.
This unusual behavior surprised scientists. Apparently because it inhibits a plant’s ability to successfully pollinate and disperse seeds and has never been observed before in the palm family. with the description P. underground New to science, the study authors hope to attract other researchers who may help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding this unusual species.
How does pollination occur?
Professor William Baker, Senior Research Leader, Tree of Life at RBG Kew, said: “I’ve been studying palm trees for 30 years, and it amazes me that these plants continue to surprise us. This unexpected finding raises more questions than it answers. What is palm pollination? How does a pollinator find flowers underground? How did this phenomenon develop and what will palmas surprise us with next?”
In the case of P. undergroundThe dual pattern of geocarpy and geoflora was even more confusing, as plants belonging to the genus Pinanga are often pollinated by insects. like bees and insects, which cannot move underground as easily as above. And yet, despite this rarity, scientists have observed a large number of seeds and fruits. P. undergroundindicates that an efficient pollination mechanism is at work. The study authors have yet to unravel this mystery, which will require further examination of the processes occurring in the soil.
researchers they have already managed to clarify how the seeds of the plant are distributed throughout the tropical forest. Observations revealed that the fruit was extracted and eaten by the bearded pig. (their barbats). While the fruit doesn’t seem to have a distinctive scent to the human nose, pigs’ much finer sense of smell can aid them in foraging, just as pigs are used to hunt truffles.
Seeds from the consumed fruit are then dispersed in the forest in pig feces, and indeed researchers have successfully grown seeds collected from pig droppings.
Reference work: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ppp3.10393
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