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The International Biological Material Research Center (Director, Dr. Joongku Lee) of Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology (KRIBB) has recently discovered a new species of plant in HonBa Nature Reserve located in the southeastern part of Vietnam.
Dr. Joongku Lee's research team named the new species ʻDillenia tetrapetala Joongku Lee, T.B.Tran & R.K.Choudharyʼ, which was published in the recent issue of ⌜Annales Botanici Fennici⌟, an SCI-level international journal.
This new species of plant is clearly differentiated from the allied species not only in terms of their DNA sequence comparison but also in terms of their shape, where the new species have 4 petals and sepals respectively unlike the allied species that have 5~6 petals and sepals.
A newly discovered species is usually given a scientific name in accordance with the rules defined by International Code of Botanical Nomenclature(ICBN). The new species found in Vietnam also received its scientific name, where its specific epithet is 'tetrapetala' meaning that it has four petals. Authors of this new species' scientific name includes the Korean botanist (Dr. Jonngku Lee). This implies that Korean researchers are broadening the scope of their research activities for overseas plant resources.
KRIBB has established and is operating four collaborative biological material research centers in China (established in '07), Costa Rica (established in '08), Indonesia (established in '09), and in Vietnam (established in '12) for collection and utilization of biological materials worldwide.