Researchers discovered a new subspecies of trees on the territory of Africa, but they failed to study them properly, because representatives of a previously unknown species completely disappeared while scientists were preparing to begin scientific work.
"We did not even have time to give this tree species a name," The Independent quotes scientists who have discovered mysterious trees in Cameroon, in the Bali Ngemba nature reserve.
The first samples, as specified, were found back in the fifties of the last century, but it was not possible to classify the plant over the past decades, since it seems to have died out.
“This appears to be a subspecies of Vepris, but it’s difficult to say for sure, since for more than sixty years we have not found a single new specimen,” the researchers note.
Analyzes indicate that the mysterious tree belongs to a new subspecies for science, which will now have to be studied only from the remains. Scientists, however, are still hoping to find new specimens of an unexplored Vepris subspecies, but the chances are actually pretty slim.
From trees of the Vepris species (it has about eight dozen subspecies), essential oils are made, which have some unique properties - in particular, antimalarial and bactericidal. Extinction, by the way, also threatens other subspecies of Vepris, so the situation is very alarming.
Kolesnikov Andrey
