Haptanthus story: rediscovery of enigmatic flowering plant from Honduras

Abstract

Premise of the study: Finding a plant or animal that was previously considered extinct is a fortunate (but rare) event in biology. Haptanthus hazlettii was collected from Honduras (Central America) in 1980, but numerous attempts to re-collect it have failed. Reproductive organs of Haptanthus are unique among angiosperms and make the search for phylogenetic relations difficult. Unfortunately, all attempts to extract DNA from the existing sample were unsuccessful.

Methods: In 2010, we organized a small expedition to Honduras and were able to re-collect this plant, extract DNA from dried samples, and sequence the barcoding region of rbcL.

Key results and conclusions: We obtained phylogenetic trees with reliable support for the placement of Haptanthus as a new member of Buxaceae (boxwood family).