Report: New rare palm species found to flower underground discovered in Borneo

KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — International and local researchers have discovered a new rare palm species that has the ability to flower and fruit underground in Borneo.

The rare palm, named Pinanga subterranea, is well-known to locals native to Borneo in Southeast Asia, who consume its bright-red, sweet and juicy fruit.

The Guardian reported that until now, the plant has remained unnoticed by scientists who, to date, have described around 300 different species of palm on the island.

Future leader fellow at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and research team member Dr Benedikt Kuhnhäuser said Pinanga subterranea is the only known species of palm to flower and fruit below ground.

“Flowering and fruiting below ground is mind-boggling and seemingly paradoxical because they appear to prevent pollination and dispersal.

“We now know bearded pigs eat and disperse Pinanga subterranea’s fruits, but we’ve yet to find out how and by whom the flowers are pollinated,” he said in an interview that was published in the British news daily on Tuesday.

The palm was already known to the local communities in Borneo, especially in Sarawak and Kalimantan, but it had remained unnoticed by scientists.

Kew’s research team were first alerted to the plant’s presence by Malaysian botanist Dr Paul Chai, who encountered the palm in 1997 during a visit to Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary in Sarawak.

Agusti Randi, an Indonesian researcher at the National University of Singapore and lead author of a new report in Palms (the Journal of the International Palm Society) and Plants, People, Planet, first noticed the palm in Kalimantan in 2017.

This led to researchers from Indonesia, Malaysia and Kew to recently team up to describe the palm as new-to-science and publish their findings together.

Kuhnhäuser, who was part of the research team that discovered the new species, said only a very small number of plant species have evolved to flower or fruit underground, with only one other plant that is thought to do both.

He said exclusive flowering and fruiting below ground, as discovered in Pinanga subterranea, is extremely rare.

“So far, we’ve only seen the female flowers, which are greenish-white and inconspicuous. The fruit is pale white when young, but bright red when ripe and up to two centimetres in size,” he was quoted as saying.

To date, scientists have described about 300 different species of palm found on Borneo, covering Sabah, Sarawak and also Indonesia’s Kalimantan.