Story: Phillip Tutor | Photos: Submitted
Discovery is the ninth in Dr. Brian Keener’s career
Alabama, says Dr. Brian Keener, is the most biologically diverse state east of the Mississippi River. Home to large-scale forests, Appalachian foothills, coastal plains and miles of waterways, it鈥檚 also a treasure trove for researchers searching for novel species of plants.
Aided by the connectivity of social media, Keener, a professor of biology at the 91看片网, has teamed with a south Alabama colleague to discover a new species of , a perennial evergreen that features a variety of bloom shapes and colors often obscured by mottled leaves.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 pull back the leaves,鈥� Keener said, 鈥渟ometimes you鈥檒l never see them.鈥�
Keener and聽聽in Fairhope, Alabama, described and named the new species聽Hexastylis rollinsiae. 罢丑别听Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas聽published聽.
鈥淚n Alabama, there is tremendous diversity in geology. Alabama may have the most diverse geology in the country,鈥� Keener said. 鈥淲hen diverse geology leads to a diversity of soils, and diversity of soils leads to diversity of habitats, then plants have to figure out how to deal with certain habitats. It goes for a lot of diversity there.鈥�
The Hexastylis rollinsiae discovery is Keener鈥檚 ninth new species to science. How it occurred is an example of the power of social media and the occasional serendipitous moments that happen in science.
鈥淗ad Gena not made collections and moved them to her garden, these things could very well be extinct in the wild and we would have never known it existed. I have high hopes that it鈥檚 going to turn up again.鈥�
Dr. Brian Keener
As an environmental consultant, Todia often surveys soon-to-be-developed tracts for wetlands and endangered species. It鈥檚 not unusual that she鈥檒l dig up interesting plants and place them in her home garden, she said.
In 2019, a series of posts in a Facebook group — 鈥溾�� — included photographs of different Hexastylis plants. Todia went to her garden, took photos of unidentified Hexastylis plants she had harvested years earlier while on a job site, and posted them to the Facebook group.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good place to go if you have a mystery plant and just can鈥檛 figure it out,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome of the folks got pretty excited.鈥� Keener quickly contacted Todia, telling her, 鈥淚鈥檓 pretty sure this is an undescribed species.鈥�
One question led to several others. Not only were Keener and Todia unaware of what specific Hexastylis plants were in her garden, they didn鈥檛 definitively know where they originated. Her personal journal didn鈥檛 offer a concrete answer.
In her best recollection, Todia said, she harvested the plants in 2011 from a site in Enterprise, Alabama, that today is a grocery store and shopping center. Though the biologists have returned there several times, they haven鈥檛 found additional Hexastylis rollinsiae in the wild and don鈥檛 know if there are other counties in south Alabama that would be prime growing areas for that species.
鈥淭hese things are disseminated by ants, close to the ground, so there鈥檚 not really an opportunity for them to do long-distance dispersal,鈥� Keener said. 鈥淚f it indeed is from that area, and if it is found again, it鈥檚 not going to be found too far from there. It could have been in several sites down that way, it could have been in a few sites, there鈥檚 just so much we don鈥檛 know.鈥�
One part of the naming process is selecting a name for the new species that follows distinct rules governed by the . Hexastylis rollinsiae honors Todia鈥檚 maternal grandmother, Gertrude Madeline Gaylord Rollins, who inspired Todia鈥檚 interest in plants.
That they were able to identify this new species through curiosity and a few social media posts makes the discovery all the more unusual, Keener said.
鈥淗ad Gena not made collections and moved them to her garden, these things could very well be extinct in the wild and we would have never known it existed,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have high hopes that it鈥檚 going to turn up again.鈥�