Blooming long wait for mystery plant’s flower

Scientists can finally study specimen thought to be new after waiting 10 years for flowers

Scottish botanists believe they have discovered a new plant – after waiting 10 years for it to produce its first stunning cluster of red flowers.

It could be named after the remarkable scientist who brought it to Scotland from Indonesia a decade ago, who died only last month.

The mystery ginger was collected by horticulturalists from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) during a research expedition to Indonesia in 2009.

Specimens were brought back to Edinburgh and cultivated in different glasshouses in the hope that they would grow.

After a 10-year wait, one of the plants has finally produced beautiful red and white inflorescences, allowing RBGE botanists to study it properly for the first time.

Initial investigations suggest it is “highly likely” that the plant is new to science.

Dr Axel Dalberg Poulsen, researcher at RBGE, said: “Without the flowers we were unable to identify the plant.

“It’s been a 10-year wait so it’s very exciting.

“Every day a couple of flowers fully open, now it’s my challenge to find out exactly what it is. I think it is very likely that it is new.”

The plant is part of the Zingiberaceae – ginger – family.

Since flowering, RBGE staff have been able to establish the metre-tall plant with multiple stems belongs to the genus Riedelia, which currently includes 78 published species names.

It was collected in February 2009 at Enarotali, 1900m above Wissel Lakes, in Papua.

The expedition was led by Dr George Argent, a world-leading RBGE scientist who died only last month aged 78.

However, at the time there was no opportunity to dissect and study what they found.

Instead, stems were shipped back to Scotland and cultivated.

One plant kept in tropical conditions failed but another, kept in a cooler glasshouse, recently grew to such a size that it has flowered for the first time.

Dr Poulsen said determining if the plant is new to science was a complex process, however, adding: “If the flora of New Guinea gingers had been published, one could just pick it from the shelf, and use a species identification key.

“Thus, the work is a lot more cumbersome, as I have to consult several individual papers in Latin and German and also ‘type collections’ in order to evaluate if this Riedelia has a name or not.

“I have gone through most of the relevant literature and all relating to species in western New Guinea and it looks likely that the ginger flowering at RBGE represents a new species.”

Every day a couple of flowers fully open, now it’s my challenge to find out exactly what it is. I think it is very likely that it is new.

DR AXEL DALBERG POULSEN

The plant was collected during an expedition to Indonesia in 2009 and brought back to Scotland.