Science News-A new species of legumes, Zhaoqing Dezhao Teng, was discovered in Guangning County, China

Science News-A new species of legumes, Zhaoqing Dezhao Teng, was discovered in Guangning County, China

Guangning released 2024-06-18 21:06 Guangdong, China

▲ Zhaoqing Dezhao Teng

Recently, the research team of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences officially announced that the team discovered a new species of Zhaoqing-specific plants in Guangning-Zhaoqing Dezhao Teng.

"The genus Dezhao Teng belongs to the legume family and contains about 15 species. In 2018, when I was studying plants of the genus Dezhao Teng, I found photos of specimen No. 1, which was collected in the Peking University Herbarium and the Herbarium of the Institute of Botany. This specimen was collected by Zhong Guanguang in Qixingyan, Zhaoqing in 1927." Tu Tieyao, an associate researcher at the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters. Later, he found two other specimens of the same species, which were collected by Shi Guoliang from Dinghu and Guangning in 1971 and 1983 respectively. In the nearly 40 years since then, no one has collected the plant, and no photos of it have been seen on various online databases.

The above specimens were once identified by different scholars as species such as the crown vine and Hubei Dezhao vine. However, through detailed morphological comparison with other known species of the genus Dezhao vine, Tu Tieyao and his team members basically determined that it was a new species that had not been described and published. Since then, Tu Tieyao and his team have visited Zhaoqing many times and embarked on a journey of exploration that lasted more than 4 years.

Initially, the team mainly went to Qixingyan and Dinghushan for field research, but because the location of the plant specimen collection record was relatively vague, and Qixingyan had been developed into a scenic spot, the original environment no longer existed, so the team's many surveys were unsuccessful.

Just when everyone thought that the species might have become extinct before it was known to the world, Tu Tieyao's team still did not give up the search. "There are still many well-preserved secondary forests in Zhaoqing, and there may be hope." Tu Tieyao told reporters that in order to achieve "finding a needle in a haystack", the team went deep into the slopes, ridges, valleys, and streams of various forest farms from time to time, "traveling through mountains and rivers, and being exposed to the sun and rain is a common thing."

Hard work pays off. In June 2022, team member Xie Zhi led a scientific expedition to Guangning, focusing on the edge of secondary forests, streams and other environments suitable for the growth of Dezhao vine plants. On the way to Zhouzi Town, suddenly, a cluster of vines with white flowers climbing on the bamboo forest along the stream caught the attention of Xie Zhi and others. From a distance, it looked very much like Dezhao vine plants.

Xie Zhi and others immediately collected plant specimens and conducted detailed morphological observations and feature comparisons on them. They preliminarily determined that the species was the same species as the specimens collected by Zhong Guanguang and Shi Guoliang. Then, they collected several fresh and tender leaves and extracted their DNA for molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis.

"Combined with its morphological characteristics and DNA evidence, we finally confirmed that it was a new species. Afterwards, we conducted multiple searches in Guangning, but no more individuals were found." Tu Tieyao revealed that since then, the team has visited Guangning many times to conduct detailed field observations and research on the species, and wrote a research paper, which was published in an international journal in May this year, officially announcing the new species of Zhaoqing Dezhao vine.

"We recommend that this new species be listed as a critically endangered species and be subject to emergency protection as a wild plant with an extremely small population in Guangdong Province. Last year, we performed layering on it, and at the beginning of this year we found that one of the branches had taken root. The rooted branch has now been transplanted to the South China National Botanical Garden for ex situ conservation." In Tu Tieyao's view, the official discovery of this new species of Zhaoqing Dezhao Teng not only adds a new unique species to Zhaoqing and Guangdong, but also has important significance for the study of species differentiation of the genus Dezhao Teng, the protection of Guangdong's biodiversity and the utilization of forest resources.

中國廣寧縣發現豆科新種肇慶德昭藤

廣寧發布 2024-06-18 21:06 中國廣東

近日，中國科學院華南植物園研究團隊正式發布，團隊在廣寧發現肇慶特有植物新物種－肇慶德昭藤。

「德昭藤屬隸屬於豆科，約含15個物種。2018年，我在研究德昭藤屬植物時，發現了分別館藏於北京大學標本館和植物研究所標本館的1號標本的照片，這號標本是鍾觀光於1927年在肇慶七星岩採集的。後來，他又找到同屬該種的另外兩號標本，分別由石國良於1971年、1983年採自鼎湖、廣寧。此後近40年裡，再無人採集到該植物，各網路資料庫上也未見其照片。

上述標本曾經被不同的學者分別鑑定為首冠藤、湖北德昭藤等物種。但透過和德昭藤屬其它已知物種進行詳細的形態學對比研究，塗鐵要和團隊成員基本確定，其為未被描述和發表的新物種。自此，塗鐵要和團隊多次前往肇慶，展開了超過4年的探尋之路。

最初，團隊主要到七星岩、鼎湖山野外科考，但由於該植物標本採集記錄上的地點較為模糊，加之七星岩已開發為景區，原生環境不復存在，因此該團隊多次考察均無功而返。

就在大家以為該物種可能還未來得及被世人所認識就已經滅絕時，塗鐵要團隊依然沒放棄搜尋。 「肇慶還有很多保留較好的次生林，說不定還有希望。」塗鐵要告訴記者，為實現“大海撈針”，團隊不定期深入各林場山坡、山脊和山谷、溪邊，“跋山涉水、日曬雨淋是常有之事。

功夫不負有心人。 2022年6月，團隊成員謝智帶隊前往廣寧科考，重點留意了次生林林緣、溪邊等適合德昭藤屬植物生長的環境。在前往洲仔鎮途中，突然，沿路溪邊竹林上攀緣著的一叢開著白花的藤本植物引起了謝智等人的注意，遠看很像是德昭藤屬植物。

謝智等人立即採集植物標本，並對其進行詳細的形態學觀察與特徵比較，初步判斷該物種與鐘觀光和石國良採集到的標本為同一物種。緊接著，他們又採集了幾枚新鮮、幼嫩的葉片，提取其DNA用於分子鑑定和系統發育分析。

「結合其形態特徵和DNA證據，我們最終確認其為一新物種。其後，我們對廣寧開展了多次搜尋，均未發現更多的個體。」塗鐵要透露，此後，該團隊多次前往廣寧，對該物種進行詳細的野外觀察和研究，並撰寫了研究論文，於今年5月發表在國際期刊上，正式對外發布了肇慶德昭藤這一新物種。

「我們建議，將該新物種列為極危物種，並作為廣東省極小種群野生植物進行搶救性保護。去年，我們已經對其進行壓條處理，今年初發現其中1個枝條已經生根，目前已將生根的枝條移植到華南國家植物園進行遷地保護。對於德昭藤屬物種分化研究、廣東生物多樣性保育與林木資源利用等有著重要的意義。