Species new to science found in the Vallarta Botanical Garden

By Dr. Cristobal Sánchez

June 19, 2024

During the months of August and September 2023, a detailed exploration of the Naturalista* database for the western region of Jalisco led to the discovery of a species previously unknown to science. There was immense satisfaction in locating this plant in full bloom within the Botanical Garden and being able to begin its description.

The species in question was named Polystemma horconesense and is a climbing plant with star-shaped flowers that has only been recorded in the sub deciduous tropical forest that is protected by the Vallarta Botanical Garden, in the municipality of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, Mexico.

The epithet refers to the Los Horcones River Basin, where this plant lives. This finding adds to the efforts to certify the basin as a natural protected area, whose main riverbed is currently vulnerable to urbanization and the demand for water from real estate projects in the south of Banderas Bay.

In the last six years other plant species have been discovered in Mexican botanical gardens such as: Clinopodium haraverianum from the Haravéri Botanical Garden, Jalisco; Viridantha minuscula from the El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden, Guanajuato; Androlepis najarroi from the Faustino Miranda Botanical Garden, Chiapas and Echeandia cholulensis in the area of influence of the Francisco Peláez R. Ethnobotanical Garden, Cholula, Puebla. These findings show the importance of botanical gardens.
We thank our collaborators in this publication: Professor Leonardo Alvarado, as well as Carla Sofía Islas Hernández and Juan Fernando Pío León, UNAM team, CIIDIR Durango and Jardín Botánico de Vallarta. There is still a lot to know.

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