How a family picnic ended with discovery of a new plant species

By JULIA HORTON
Published on 13/09/2012 00:00

A NEW species of plant that has only just come into existence has been discovered in Scotland using pioneering DNA testing.

Mario Vallejo-Marin, a lecturer in evolutionary biology at the University of Stirling, spotted the unusual-looking monkey-flower while he was on a family picnic in South Lanarkshire.

Knowing that hybrids of the two American species which it resembled are usually sterile, he obtained a sample after noticing the plant had seeds.

Experts at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden used DNA analysis to confirm he had found a new species – believed to have been created less than 150 years ago through a rare natural cross between the two alien plants.

The monkey-flower, or Mimulus peregrinus, is expected to be the forerunner of more new plants produced by ­invasive species which are changing the country’s biodiversity.

Dr Vallejo-Marin said: “I was with my family – returning from a hike and a visit to the lead museum in the Leadhills area – [when] I spotted some plants that I have noticed in a previous trip, and convinced my family to stop to take a sample. As we walked down a stream I found a group of plants ­producing seeds. This was an unusual observation as the plants previously seen in this area were sterile hybrids.

“I knew that this could be something new – and after many tests – I was able to confirm that the plants I ­collected were in fact a new ­hybrid species that had undergone a process of ­genome duplication. I was very excited! The finding is significant as this ­species is not only new to ­science, but new to the world as it has only been created recently (in the past 140 years or less) from two plant species from North and South America. I am quite happy that this new ­species is a Scottish discovery.”