With the support from the US National Geographic Society, a research group headed by Prof. Wu Sugong from the CAS Kunming Institute of Botany has made rich achievements in their two-year fern studies in northern and central Vietnam.
Of the Vietnamese specimens that have been studied, the CAS botanists have found a new genus and quite a number of new species. Among them, the discovery of the new genus of
Kontumia heterophylla S.K. Wu et Pha Ke Loc and a new species of
Cytomium elongata have been published in this year's
NOVON, an international journal of botany.
Kontumia is distinguished from any known genus in the fern plants in appearance, says Prof. Wu, and its taxonomic niche in the floral phylogeny is to be further studied.
The studies also lead to some new recordings. The first batch of the recordings involves eight fern species and has published by the latest issue of
ACTA BOTANICA YUNNANICA. The researchers have completed studies on the second batch of eight species.
