More than forty years after being discovered, At last it has been possible to register as a species Coccoloba gigantifoliaa plant that only lives in some regions of the Amazonand what has the largest leaves in the worldon a plant more than 4 meters high.
The Coccoloba gigantifolia It is not a tree, but a plant from the Amazon close to sunflowers, tomatoes and roses. It measures up to 15 meters high, and Its leaves are 2.5 meters high and 1.5 meters wide..
The plant was discovered in 1982, but could not be defined as a species until recently. The reason is that no specimens with flowers and seeds had been foundtwo essential elements to be able to register a new species of flora.
Some leaves the size of a person
In the last 30 years, several expeditions from the National Amazon Research Institute (INPA), in Brazil, had found some specimens of Coccoloba gigantifoliawhich only lives next to the Madeira River, the main tributary of the Amazon, and in the province of Rondonia, in Brazil.
But as we say, they were all sterile, they had no flowers or seeds. Until, finally, according to the Mongabay website, In 2005, they managed to find a specimen with seeds. They planted them in a garden, and 13 years later they obtained the flowers and seeds they needed to describe the species. A work of patience that has paid off, literally.
The new species Coccoloba gigantifolia science has just been born, but is already in danger of extinction. It is only found in endemic areas of the Amazon, where deforestation is continuous. Furthermore, the entire area is threatened by a dam, which removes and gives water at will.
Has the third largest leaf on a plantbehind the Gunnera manicataand the Bolivian victory. But the first barely reaches 4 meters in height, and the second is a water lily. The Coccoloba gigantifolia It has a lot of merit because Its 2.5 meter leaves grow to 15 meters in height.
It has taken almost 40 years, but this plant with gigantic leaves, is now officially a new species. I hope it manages to survive the deforestation of the Amazon!