Utah People's Post

The Latest News from the Beehive State

Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Log in
  • National News
    • Female Caseworker Killed & Doctor Shot in Philadelphia
  • State News
    • Car Chase Leads to Drug Arrest
  • Tech & Science
  • Health
    • How to Prepare For Ticks Season
    • Magical Weight Loss Bean Scam
  • Sports
  • Business
You are here: Home / Tech & Science / New Plant Species Discovered in the Small Town of Valentine, Texas

New Plant Species Discovered in the Small Town of Valentine, Texas

July 12, 2014 Posted by Editor

cordicitum_plant-617x416

A new plant has been discovered in Texas’s small town, Valentine. It may not be exactly your garden-variety ornamental, but the plant has an incredible story to tell. According to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, the specimen is a distant relative of the eggplant which has already been discovered once in 1974 and another time in 1990, but was misidentified.

Four decades later, the 14-inch plant was once again identified wrongly as one species, then a second, then a third. Recently, a group of University of Utah botanists set out to find this endangered plant once again. They also gave it a name: the Solanum Cordicitum, which means “from the heart” in Latin. The name is a direct reference to Valentine, the 134 residents town where it was discovered, in November, by Jeffrey Keeling.

This discovery is extremely interesting, especially since most new plant specimens appear at the tropics. It is extremely unusual for a flowering plant to be found in the United States, Lynn Bohs, biology professor at the University of Utah, declares. Lynn Bohs is also the senior author of a study called Solanum Cordicitum. 

“It’s a new, unique plant from the united States (…) Plus it’s from Valentine, which is extremely charming, and that gave rise to its name, S. cordicitum.” – Lynn

At the moment there are only three specimens of S. cordicitum preserved. All of them have been pressed and mounted in museums. Scientists say that these are the only specimens they found of the plant, and since it is endangered, there may very well be no others. The name of the plant is also not a coincidence. It belongs to the genus Solanum, which includes approximately 1500 species of the most poisonous plants (like nightshades) and regular plants (like tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants etc.).

The vast majority of Solanum plants are extremely toxic and dangerous. They can cause hallucinogenic effects, or medicinal benefits. Although the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List (for threatened species) identified the newly discovered plant as “data efficient”, Bohs believes that it is extremely endangered.

More Details about the Plant 

As we already mentioned, the plant is very similar to others of its kind. In addition to this, other plants found in the area are perennials, while the Solanum Cordicitum is annual. This means that it blossoms once and dies, so it is extremely hard to find. It can grow approximately 14 inches tall. It has unusual stems and leaves: each of them has 3 or 4 lobes on every side. They are covered with short hairs and spines that are 1/5 inches long.

“It’s got a beautiful, interesting flower form unique in Solanum,” Bohs says.

This research is part of a larger, five-year project (valued at 4.36$ million by national Science Foundation) and it aims to better classify and organize all 1500 species in the genus of flowering plants.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: from the heart, new plant species, plant discovered in Texas, Solanum Cordicitum

Woman working out at the gym

Just 23% of Americans Are Working Out Enough in Their Spare Time

June 29, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Poliovirus Therapy Gives Brain Cancer Patients New Hope (Study)

June 29, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

United Airlines airplane

Passenger Mysteriously Dies on United Airlines flight Bound for Boston

June 28, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Breakfast sandwich

Here Are Some Foods No Nutritionist Would Ever Eat

June 27, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Poppy flower

UN Warns of Surge in Opium-based Drugs and Cocaine Supply

June 27, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

U.S.-Canada border

French Jogger Detained 2 Weeks for Accidentally Crossing Border

June 26, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Plus size model

Normalizing Plus Size Could Fuel Obesity Crisis (Study)

June 25, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Giant manta ray

Unique Manta Ray Nursery Spotted off Texas Coast

June 23, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

The rainbow flag

WHO Scraps Transgenderism from List of Mental Illnesses

June 22, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

456 People Dead at U.K. Hospital after Taking too Many Painkillers

June 21, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Kenyan girls dancing

Kenyans Facing Poor Nutrition as Supermarket Shopping Is on the Rise

June 20, 2018 By Amelia Donovan

Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Staff
  • Terms and Conditions

Recent Posts

  • Just 23% of Americans Are Working Out Enough in Their Spare Time
  • Poliovirus Therapy Gives Brain Cancer Patients New Hope (Study)
  • Passenger Mysteriously Dies on United Airlines flight Bound for Boston
  • Here Are Some Foods No Nutritionist Would Ever Eat
  • UN Warns of Surge in Opium-based Drugs and Cocaine Supply
  • French Jogger Detained 2 Weeks for Accidentally Crossing Border
  • Normalizing Plus Size Could Fuel Obesity Crisis (Study)

Related Articles

  • Crosses on a wall

    Religious People Live Longer, Are Less Stressed than Atheists, Study

    Jun 15, 2018
  • Antineutrino Detector

    Scientists Discover an Even More Elusive Particle than Neutrinos

    Jun 5, 2018
  • Funny Albert Einstein

    Time Travel Is Already Here

    May 30, 2018
  • Planet 2003UB313

    Scientists Found Evidence that Elusive Planet 9 May Be Real

    May 18, 2018
  • Kuiper Belt Object

    This Asteroid in Kuiper Belt Is Nothing Scientists Have Seen Before

    May 11, 2018
  • Elephant raising its trunk

    Elephants Communicate with Their Feet, Scientists Confirm

    May 9, 2018
  • Starbucks store

    Black Men Settle for $1 Each after Racist Arrest at Starbucks

    May 3, 2018
  • Tech addiction

    Facebook Pioneers Forming Coalition to Lobby Against Tech Addiction

    Feb 5, 2018
  • Kaspersky Co-founder Natalia Kasperskaya

    Kaspersky Boss: Bitcoin Was Created by U.S. Govt to Fund CIA’s Black Ops

    Feb 1, 2018
  • Amazon Go shopper

    Amazon Gets Rid of Cashiers at Its Check-Out Free Store

    Jan 30, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • National News
  • Nature
  • Provo
  • Salt Lake News
  • Science
  • Sports
  • State News
  • Tech & Science
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • West Jordan
  • West Valley City
  • World

Copyright © 2022 utahpeoplespost.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Site Map · Contact