New plant discoveries in 2019.
Galanthus bursana On average 2000 new vascular plant species are published each year. With a meagre 1614, 2019 did not reach this average, but when realising that new species papers get very few citations and funding for fundamental biodiversity studies are wanting, it is still an impressive feat. The majority of the new species came from Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and tropical Africa, which are certainly the least explored regions and those with the highest concentration of botanical diversity. It is also not surprising that most new species discoveries were in the mega-diverse families of orchids (Orchidaceae), daisies (Asteraceae) and legumes (Fabaceae), but the ginger family Zingiberaceae and the myrtle family Myrtaceae were also well represented among new species. Annonaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Areaceae, Asphodelaceae, Plantaginaceae, Solanaceae were also prominent. The mega-genera Astragalus , Begonia , Bulbophyllum , Carex ,...