'Mystery Plant' From the Amazon Declared a New Species After Nearly 50 Years of Flummoxing Scientists
Published:09 Nov.2021 Source:Field Museum
In 1973, a scientist stumbled upon a strange tree in the Amazon rainforest, unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was about 20 feet tall, with tiny orange fruits shaped like paper lanterns. He collected samples of the plant's leaves and fruits, but all the scientists he showed them to wound up scratching their heads -- not only were they unable to identify the plant as a species that had previously been described by scientists, but they couldn't even declare it a new species, because they couldn't tell what family it belonged to.
But in a new study in the journal Taxon, scientists analyzed the plant's DNA and determined where it belongs in the family tree of trees, finally giving it a name meaning "Mystery of Manu," after the park in Peru it came from.