New olive cousin found in Minas Gerais – 08/24/2023 – Food

Scientists from the Institute of Biosciences at the University of São Paulo, USP, identified a new species of plant in the Serra do Espinhaço, in Minas Gerais. The discovery took place in Monte Azul, and its given name, Chionanthus monteazulensis, refers to the location. The plant belongs to the family Oleaceaethe same as olive trees, and generates fruits similar to olives.

The identification was made in October 2022, when master’s student Danilo Zavatin carried out an expedition through the rural area of ​​the municipality of Minas Gerais. His goal was to locate endangered plants when he found the new species.

“I already had a good knowledge of groups of plants and had never seen anything like it. Then, I raised the suspicion that it could be dealing with an uncatalogued species”, says Zavatin.

Afterwards, the researcher picked branches from the plant and met with Professor José Rubens Pirani, a professor at USP. It was with him that he identified that the plant belonged to the family Oleaceae and gender Chionanthus. This was confirmed by Julio Lombardi, a specialist in Chionanthus and professor at Unesp, at the São Paulo State University Júlio de Mesquita Filho, in Rio Claro.

To register the discovery, it was necessary to publish a scientific article with detailed information about the plant. It is at this stage that the researcher in charge assigns the name to the new species. The study was published in the journal Phytotaxa.

“When we want to prove that a species is new, the first thing is to carry out a study of all the species that are close to it and make comparisons. In Brazil, 11 types of species have already been catalogued. Chionanthus. In the article, we compare the new plant with similar ones and describe the differences”, says Zavatin.

He says that the differences between this new plant and the other species were clear and that, therefore, it was not necessary to carry out a molecular analysis, based on the DNA sequence.

On the border with Bahia, Serra do Espinhaço, is more than 1,000 kilometers long, peaks that can reach 2,000 meters in altitude and covers regions such as Chapada Diamantina and Serra dos Cristais, famous destinations for tourism. There, the vegetation is of the campo rupestre type, a domain within the cerrado.

Considered the only mountain range in Brazil, the site covers five municipalities and was recognized as a biosphere reserve by Unesco. The area has its own ecosystem with altitude vegetation and includes two state conservation units (Grão Mogol and Botumirim parks).

For the researcher, the discovery reveals a negligence of scientific research in the region. “The first thing that is evident is the lack of study of the place. There is a lack of knowledge there”, he says.

According to Zavatin, this should be an alert to the need for preservation. “If we find a new species there, that means it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Without preservation, some species could become extinct before we even know about it.”