Ebo false hydrosme
In 2022, a bizarre-looking new species was found in a small stretch of valley in Cameroon’s Ebo forest.
Pseudohydrosme ebo might look like something from a science-fiction film, but actually comes from the same family as better known plants like the peace lily or the titan arum.
This new addition to the Pseudohydrosme genus is the first one to be found outside of Gabon.
Even though recently named to science, Pseudohydrosme ebo is thought to be a critical risk of extinction due to logging and habitat destruction across the Ebo forest.
Plant description
In flower, Pseudohydrosme ebo reaches around 30cm tall, loosely resembling an aroid lily. The outer protective layer, or spathe, is dull white with brown stripes on the outside, and light reddish brown with wide pale green veins on the inside. The spathe is a cylindrical shape that wilts over at the top to form a hood over the spandix, a cylindrical growth of flowers up to 5cm tall. The leaves are oval shaped, around 10cm long with shiny surfaces and grow alternately along their leaf stems.
Did you know?
The plant’s name Pseudohydrosme means ‘false Hydrosme’, which was a previous name for the genus Amorphophallus, a closely related group of plants that includes the titan arum.
Where in the world?
The Ebo forest in Cameroon’s Littoral region
Our work
Pseudohydrosme ebo is an extremely rare species and is restricted to a small corner of the vast and amazingly diverse Ebo Forest, home to 75 threatened species of plants, of which eight are unique to the forest.
Since 2004, botanists from Kew’s Africa team, lead by Dr. Martin Cheek, and the National Herbarium in Cameroon have been exploring the previously little-studied Ebo forest.
They are in the process of documenting the extensive array of plants found in Ebo forest, with a view to recognising it as one of Cameroon’s first TIPAs.
In July 2020, the Cameroonian Government released plans to create two long-term logging concessions, set to cover the entire area of the proposed Ebo National Park. More than 60 conservationists including four from Kew’s Africa team, signed a letter to Cameroon’s Prime Minister asking him to rescind these concessions.
On 6 August 2020, the plans for the logging concessions within the Ebo forest were cancelled by the President of Cameroon. The communities whose livelihoods are based in and around the Ebo forest played a pivotal role in this policy reversing campaign, supported by the work of Kew's scientists.
