UK: Scientists are studying and rearing a rare palm tree which flowers only once in its 100 year lifespan

Record ID: 455118

  • Title: UK: Scientists are studying and rearing a rare palm tree which flowers only once in its 100 year lifespan
  • Date: 2nd May 2008
  • Summary: (AD1) WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 30, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFRICA CO-ORDINATOR, KEW'S SEED CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT, DR. MOCTAR SACANDE, SAYING: "Due to the limited number of seeds we have to be smart and clever on how to distribute that and mainly it's a good thing that if you handle or you work with a new species like this to have some samples all over the world for education purposes. So we have sent them to - we have sent some seeds to America, different botanical gardens - then to Asia, to Africa, to Australia, also." SACANDE ENTERING ROOM, COLLECTING TAHINA SPECTABILIS SEEDS SACANDE EXITING WITH SEEDS VARIOUS OF SACANDE EXAMINING SEEDS CLOSEUP OF SEEDS IN DISH SACANDE DESCENDING STEPS AND ENTERING MILLENNIUM SEED BANK PAN ACROSS SEED BANK VAULT CLOSEUP OF SEEDS IN VAULT
  • Embargoed: 17th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAALILTD1XLQ08HW742250ZSAXB
  • Story Text: Seeds from a rare new palm tree from Madagascar - which flowers once in its lifetime and then dies - are being studied, and even propagated into seedlings.
    Seeds from a rare new species of palm tree discovered in Madagascar are being studied, and even propagated into seedlings, experts at the Millennium Seed Bank said on Wednesday (April 30).

    "This is really the very first seed set we got from the palm so it's really, really a delight and excitement to see those seedlings sprouting," said Dr. Moctar Sacande, the Africa Co-ordinator at the Millennium Seed Bank located in West Sussex, outside of London.
    Tahina spectabilis is Madagascar's most massive palm tree. It stands fifty feet above the ground and has fan-shaped leaves that, at fifteen feet in diameter, rank among the largest of any flowering plant.
    Its bizarre lifecycle - it is thought it grows for up to 50 years, flowers spectacularly once in its lifetime, then dies - means there may not be an opportunity to harvest more seeds from the 100 or so individuals that exist on the island for many years to come.
    Botanists at RBG Kew announced the discovery of Tahina spectabilis, made in Madagascar, in January this year.
    Frenchman Xavier Metz, who manages a cashew plantation there, was walking in north-western Madagascar with his family when they stumbled across the giant palm with its huge pyramidal flowering structure sprouting out of the tip. They took photographs which soon reached John Dransfield, an Honorary Research Fellow of Kew.

    "All of a sudden this tiny, corner of a place in Madagascar became the world's attention," Sacande said, adding that the feedback has underlined the importance of conserving biodiversity to the local community.
    More than 90 per cent of Madagascar's 10,000 plant species occur nowhere else in the world.
    As this species is entirely new to science, its biological information is vital to increasing knowledge and understanding of how best to conserve it.
    Around 1,000 grape-sized seeds, harvested by local villagers in collaboration with the Kew team, arrived at the Millennium Seed Bank in February.
    Scientists are testing the seeds for their tolerance to extreme cold and desiccation - seeds are dried out before they are placed in the Seed Bank's storage vaults at -20°C. They will also be studied to learn how long it takes the seeds to germinate and last in these storage conditions.

    "Due to the limited number of seeds we have to be smart and clever on how to distribute that and mainly it's a god thing that if you handle or you work with a new species like this to have some samples all over the world for education purposes. So we have sent them to - we have sent some seeds to America, different botanical gardens - then to Asia, to Africa, to Australia, also," Sacande said.
    The seeds are undergoing testing by Kew's Millennium Seed Bank scientists to determine whether they can be stored alongside seeds from the almost 22,000 wild flowering plant species already conserved at the Seed Bank.
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