Still new Life is born on Earth.New species of flowers a hope for the future.

So long as new species appear on the earth there is still hope for the future, this means continuity for life.

New Flowering Plant Discovered in Scotland



www.sci-news.com...

Biologist Dr Mario Vallejo-Marín from the University of Stirling has found a new species of monkey flower, created by the union of two foreign plant species, on the bank of a stream in Scotland

Genetic changes in this attractive yellow-flowered hybrid have allowed it to overcome infertility and made it a rare example of a brand new species that has originated in the wild in the last 150 years.

Thousands of wild species and some crops are thought to have originated in this way, yet only a handful of examples exist where this type of species formation has occurred in recent history.

The ancestors of the new plant were brought from the Americas as botanical curiosities in the 1800s and were quickly adopted by Victorian gardeners. Soon after their arrival, they escaped the confines of British gardens and can now be found growing in the wild, along the banks of rivers and streams. Reproduction between these species produces hybrids that are now widespread in Britain. Yet, genetic differences between the two parents mean that the hybrids are infertile and cannot go beyond the first generation.

The biologist has documented the first examples of hybrid monkey flowers that have overcome these genetic barriers and show fully restored fertility. This fertile hybrid derived from ‘immigrant’ parents represents a new species, native to Scotland.

“The two American monkey flowers are unable to produce fertile hybrids due to differences in the amount of DNA present in each species, the equivalent of getting a sterile mule from crossing a horse and a donkey”, Dr Vallejo-Marin. “However, in rare cases, duplication of the entire hybrid DNA, known as polyploidization, can balance the amount of DNA and restore fertility. Our studies suggest that this is what has happened here.”

The discovery will help scientists to understand how new species form. It is thought that many existing plant species including crops such as wheat, cotton and tobacco may have originated in a similar way, but finding examples of this process in action is rare.

“This is an exciting opportunity to study evolution as it happens,” Dr Vallejo Marin explained. “We do not yet know how common the new species is or how well it will fare, so the next step will be to find out its distribution and whether its ecological characteristics, allow it to colonize environments that cannot be currently exploited by its parents.

www.sci-news.com...

In the times we are living and besides all the evil in this world the beauty of a flower can bring joy to us especially when is a new born species.

It's a hybrid, it's not really a new species that has appeared. This won't happen a lot and it can only really happen in plants. Sorry to be a downer but I don't think it shows as much hope as you say it does.

If I found that plant I surely would have named it Jerry

reply to post by diamondoftheworld

It makes me wonder if the Voynich Manuscript book is actually legitamte, plants that have been and maybe... just maybe, they are resurfacing. /pun intended



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