image copyrightRBGE

       image captionA rhododendron from the mountains of Vietnam was the latest species to be identified

       Botanic gardens in Scotland have helped to identify dozens of new species under lockdown.

       A rhododendron from the mountains of Vietnam has become the 73rd species to be identified as "new to science" since March 2020.

       Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and its international partners have continued to work behind closed doors.

       It said the teams were continuing to identify more than one new plant every week during the Covid pandemic.

       image copyrightRBGE

       image captionOne of the three new Zingiberaceae (gingers) new to science - Globba luteola

       The latest species - rhododendron tephropeploides - was collected by an international team of scientists and horticulturists from Scotland, England, Vietnam, the USA and Canada in 2014.

       Richard Baines, curator of Logan Botanic Garden, a regional garden of RBGE in Dumfries and Galloway, said that fieldwork was "incredibly important" to help "understand and safeguard the world's precious resources".

       image copyrightRBGE

       image captionThe Salvia subviolacea was another species identified

       "Finding and recording plants is the very first step in protecting biodiversity and, incredibly, we are still documenting plants previously unknown to science," he said.

       "Sadly, a great number of the species occurring in this area are severely threatened by deforestation and agricultural cultivation and barely exist other than in small, fragile populations.

       "By collecting seeds from those plants in the wild and growing them on in botanic gardens in ex-situ conservation projects, we give them a better chance of survival."

       image copyrightRBGE

       image captionThe Globba larsenii was part of the lockdown identifications by the RBGE

       Assistant professor Nguyen Van Dzu, from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said the collaboration with RBGE was producing "tangible results".

       Dr Alan Elliott, RBGE's biodiversity conservation network manager, added: "This new rhododendron is the product of several years of collaborative field studies with our partners in Vietnam.

       "Intensive, co-ordinated field research and local knowledge are key to successful and integrated species conservation.

       "Along with gaining a better understanding of the threats facing habitats and the conservation actions required to better protect species, we can also gain an increased knowledge of the biodiversity of an area when we find undescribed diversity."

       image copyrightRBGE

       image captionSalvia subviolacea growing in the wild

       image copyrightRBGE

       image captionAnother Zingiberaceae newly described to science, Globba mollis

       The RBGE has four sites across Scotland at Edinburgh, Port Logan in Dumfries and Galloway, Benmore in Argyll and Dawyck in the Borders.

       image copyrightRBGE

       image captionAn illustration of Drypetes umbricola

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