New Palm Discoveries in New Guinea

CORAL GABLES, Fla., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent expedition led by Conservation International has discovered a treasure trove of new species in the remote mountains of New Guinea. Among the newly discovered animals and plants is a group of five new palm species. Dr. Scott Zona, Head of the Palm Conservation Program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Chair of the World Conservation Union's Palm Specialist Group, stated, "This exciting discovery confirms that New Guinea is one of the frontiers of palm research. There is an urgency to this work as habitat destruction is threatening the still undocumented diversity of this remote region."

New Guinea is one of the least well-known areas of plant diversity left in the tropics and is an area of high priority for palm research. While large areas of primary forest still exist there, the rapidly expanding activities of local and foreign logging agencies, and major economic development plans constitute a real and urgent threat to habitats and biodiversity. Second only in economic importance to the grasses, palms are of crucial significance to subsistence communities throughout the tropics. However, the taxonomy of New Guinea palms is so poorly understood that efforts to conserve palms are inhibited by communication difficulties. Thus, taxonomic inventory work on palms throughout the eastern part of this region has been identified by Conservation International as a high priority.

Dr. Zona is a recognized expert on the palms of New Guinea and a member of the Palms of New Guinea Project, an international consortium of research groups from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia and the USA. The project is working to document and conserve the palms of this under explored and still largely intact forest region. The group's research will culminate in the production of an illustrated book on the palms of the island of New Guinea, as well as local language field guides that aim to teach local land managers to identify these important palms.

Researchers from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (USA) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) recently announced that a new palm genus found during the expedition has been formally named by Dr. Zona of Fairchild and Dr. William J. Baker of Kew. The new genus is named Dransfieldia micrantha in honor of Dr. John Dransfield, world authority on palms and the recently retired head of Kew's palm research program.

About Fairchild's Palm Conservation Program

The Fairchild Palm Conservation Program is home to the World Conservation Union's Palm Specialist Group ( http://www.iucn.org/ ), and is the North American editorial center for the International Palm Society's journal, Palms. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden houses the National Palm Collection as recognized by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), grows the world's largest palm collection and is an international center for the study and conservation of palms. Current projects include a conservation assessment of Caribbean palms, genetic studies of rare palms from Mauritius and the Caribbean, the reintroduction of the Buccaneer palms to Florida and a major study of palm anatomy. The new Fairchild Guide to Palms, http://www.palmguide.org/ , is a web resource for gardeners, landscapers, teachers and scientists, providing a comprehensive reference on growing tropical palms. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is dedicated to exploring, explaining and conserving the world of tropical plants. Fairchild is located at 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables (Miami), Florida 33156. For more information, please visit http://www.fairchildgarden.org/ .