In the never-ending quest to document the incredible diversity of life on Earth, botanists and mycologists scored some remarkable finds in 2024. From fungi sporting rows of tiny teeth to palms with an ethereal pallor, newly named species emerged from nearly every corner of the globe this year. But even as we celebrate these additions to the tree of life, a troubling reality underlies this age of discovery: many of these species may slip into extinction before we have a chance to fully understand or appreciate them.
Fantastic Fungi Finds
While the world of fungi is replete with bizarre forms, a few of this year’s additions stand out from the crowd. Take the members of the Phellodon genus recently identified from woodlands in England and Scotland. Rather than the typical gills or pores, these toadstools sport rows of small, tooth-like protrusions on the underside of their caps, an adaptation for dispersing spores. Unfortunately, like many fungi, they’re highly sensitive to nitrate pollution from agriculture, making their future uncertain as habitat loss and degradation continues.
The Russula genus also yielded some unique new species, hailing from far-flung locales like the Rocky Mountains, coastal British Columbia, and the forests of Scandinavia. These fungi often emit a distinctive fishy odor, which scientists believe may help attract insect dispersers. With an estimated millions of fungal species still undescribed, mycologists are in a race against time. According to Dr. Anna Bazzicalupo of RBG Kew:
An overwhelming number of them are likely threatened with extinction, meaning they may disappear before they are even recognised.
Exotic Additions to the Plant Kingdom
Not to be outdone by their fungal counterparts, plants also presented some remarkable new faces this year. The forests of Guinea yielded Keita deniseae, a liana or woody vine that fills the air with the tantalizing scent of marzipan as it climbs into the canopy. Its large edible fruits are an important resource for local wildlife. However, like many of Guinea’s native plants, its habitat is under immense pressure from development.
China’s Karst formations, known for their dramatically eroded limestone, also proved a cradle of botanical diversity. Researchers described three new species of Cheniella liana here, night-blooming vines that rely on moths for pollination. Some can reach a staggering 80m in length. Sadly, these fragile ecosystems are rapidly being quarried for cement production, putting the future of these plants and many others in jeopardy.
Fungi That Skip Photosynthesis
Perhaps one of the most unusual finds of 2024 was a new plant family, Afrothismiaceae, that appears to have given up on photosynthesis entirely. Found primarily in the rainforests of Cameroon, these small, non-descript plants have lost their green coloring, instead leeching the nutrients they need from soil fungi. It’s a strategy that’s evolved many times across the plant kingdom, but each instance provides valuable insights into the complex relationships between plants and their fungal partners.
A Botanical Mystery
Even plants we thought we knew well had some surprises in store. Virectaria stellata, a new species from the sandstone cliffs of Guinea, possessed star-shaped leaf hairs completely unlike anything else in its family. Researchers believe this unusual trait may have originated through the transfer of genetic material between unrelated plant lineages, a phenomenon that’s only recently begun to be appreciated. Exploring unique adaptations like these can help us understand how plants have evolved to master challenging environments.
Racing to Discover Earth’s Biodiversity
While this year’s haul of over 170 new species named by the scientists at Kew is certainly impressive, it represents just a fraction of the plant and fungal diversity waiting to be described. Researchers estimate there are still over 100,000 unknown plant species and likely millions of fungal species. Many of these unknown species are under imminent threat from deforestation, development, pollution, and climate change. As Dr. Martin Cheek warns:
Biodiversity loss is a crisis that affects us all. Every unknown species we lose could have been a potential new food or new medicine that we never even knew existed.
Protecting Earth’s biodiversity for future generations will require greatly expanding our efforts to catalogue new species. Currently, only a small army of taxonomists and systematists are engaged in this vital work, constrained by a lack of funding and waning academic support. Safeguarding these species, and the ecosystems they are a part of, must become a global priority. The secrets to solving many of humanity’s greatest challenges, from food security to medical breakthroughs, may be hiding in plain sight – waiting for us in the next unnamed flower, leaf, or mushroom.
