New Plant Discovered in El Charco

Published August 2, 2023

. Viridantha minuscula, a species of Bromeliad with no previous record

The discovery of new plant species is not common nowadays, especially in populated territories studied by botanists for centuries, such as the region of San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajuato. For this reason, the scientific description of a new plant species, already confirmed by specialized scientific institutions, is very relevant news. The plant was described from a specimen collected for the first time by a group of experts in botany. Similar to other species of the bromeliad family, it turned out to be a new species of the genus Viridantha, according to studies carried out by experts and that will soon be published in the international scientific journal Phytotaxa. Phytotaxa.

This small plant only measures 8 cm in height including its inflorescence, which stands out for the striking pinkish color of its bracts, key to its taxonomic differentiation, as well as its rupicolous habitat (it grows on the rocks). Because it is the first formal study of this new species, it is considered micro-endemic to El Charco del Ingenio, with very low numbers of it’s individuals it will require population and ecology studies in order to know more about the species. It is essential that society and decision makers value the importance of the description of new species for floristic and conservation studies of the natural world.

This description is possible thanks to the collaboration of the specialist in the genus Dr. Rodrigo Hernández Cárdenas and the pioneer botanists in Mexico specialists in the Bromeliaceae family Adolfo Espejo and Ana Rosa López Ferrari of the Metropolitan Herbarium of the Autonomous Metropolitan University-Iztapalapa who for decades have studied the Mexican flora and to the Walter L. Meagher Herbarium (The Herbarium of the Botanical Garden) in collaboration with the M.Sc. Jose Viccon and M.Sc.Nelly Sandoval.