New tree species discovered in Vietnam's Trường Sơn mountains
Vietnamese and international scientists have discovered a new species of large timber tree in the Trường Sơn mountains (the Annamite Range) of central Vietnam and named it the Trường Sơn đua đũa.
According to Dr. Đỗ Văn Trường of the Vietnam National Museum of Nature (Bảo tàng Thiên nhiên Việt Nam), part of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (Viện Hàn lâm Khoa học và Công nghệ Việt Nam), the new tree was found by scientists from the Vietnam National Museum of Nature, Sun Yat-sen University (China), the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Sweden), the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (U.S.) while studying the diversity of Vietnam's flora.
Flowers and fruit of the đua đũa tree found by scientists in the Trường Sơn mountains. (Photo: Đỗ Trường).
The scientists named the new species the Trường Sơn đua đũa, Rehderodendron truongsonense P.W. Fritsch, W.B. Liao & W.Y. Zhao (storax family, Styracaceae).
The findings were published in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, a specialist international journal (J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 13(1): 157-171. 2019).
The genus Rehderodendron Hu (Styracaceae) currently includes about 8 recorded species, distributed mainly in southern China, Myanmar and Vietnam. Of these, 3 species had previously been recorded in Vietnam's flora (R. indochinense H.L. Li, R. kweichowense Hu and R. macrocarpum Hu).
The new species differs from all others in the genus in a combination of morphological traits: it is an evergreen tree up to 20m tall with a trunk diameter at breast height of up to 60cm, few secondary leaf veins, a shorter inflorescence axis and corolla lobes, large bracts, 8 ovules, and a drupe with 10 - 20 prominent ridges.
"This species, endemic to Vietnam, has been assessed as Near Threatened under the conservation assessment framework of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (2001). The discovery not only raises the number of Rehderodendron species in Vietnam to 4, but also highlights the value of Vietnam's timber resources. Further research is therefore needed on the potential uses and conservation of this important genetic resource," Dr. Đỗ Văn Trường said.
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