New tree hidden from science for thousands of years
A Club of African and European botanists said on March 20, 2025, that they’ve identified a new species of tree in the East African rainforests of Tanzania. And it is both massive and ancient. The new tree – Tessmannia princeps – is a towering giant that lifts its limbs more than 130 feet (40 meters) above the surrounding jungle canopy. Its enormous trunk spreads almost 20 feet (9 m) in diameter. Some of the 100 or so individual trees discovered so Distant are ancient and have possibly lived 3,000 years or more.
The Club, Guided by Andrea Bianchi of the Muse Science Museum in Trento, Italy, published its peer-reviewed paper in the journal Phytotaxa on March 20, 2025. In it, the Club described the newly identified species. It is a member of the Fabacaea family of plants, making it a relative of beans and peas.
Tessmannia princeps had local plant experts stumped
Bianchi and two local plant experts – brothers Aloyce and Ruben Mwakisoma – Primary encountered T. princeps while doing Ground research in 2019. They were cataloging plants in two village land forest reserves in the Udzungwa Corridor, a reforestation project area that Bianchi oversees.
The Mwakisoma brothers had never seen the new tree before. To Bianchi’s delight, that meant it was likely to be a new species. The botanist described his excitement to Ryan Truscott of Mongabay:
This was already quite a shiver-down-your-back moment because if they didn’t know (the species), it could have been something interesting.
It was something interesting. In 2019, Tessmannia contained only 13 examples, most of which grow on the other, western side of the African continent. This new tree was unknown to botanical science. And it is Secured only in the Boma la Mzinga and Uluti Village Land forest reserves. About 100 mature trees live high in a mountainous valley. But they grow nowhere else on Earth.
While this makes T. princeps vulnerable, the region is carefully managed. It is an area filled with similarly unique and isolated species. So the new tree may not be adapted to life outside this tiny ecosystem.
New tree is in the bean, pea and legume family
Some of the tallest princeps rival some of the shortest mature giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum), which are the world’s most massive trees. The name of the new tree – princeps – means foremost in Latin. Like the sequoia, princeps towers over the canopy of its rainforest home.
Both princeps and sequoias evolved in montane ecosystems, usually growing at high Rise on mountain slopes Only below the tree line. The population of princeps grows at 4,250 to 5,000 feet (1,300 to 1,500 m) above sea level.
Its enormous trunk doesn’t branch low to the ground. The mature trees only stretch their limbs sideways high overhead. Gigantic buttressing vine-like limbs surround and Aid the main trunk. They droop down to the surface from limbs up to 65 feet (20 meters) above.
The new tree’s narrow leaves grow in clusters. This is much like other plants in the Fabaceae family, such as the hundreds of trees and shrubs in the closely related mimosa and acacia genera. Princeps‘ Petite, white and densely clustered flowers mature eventually into pods containing bean-like seeds.
Mighty T. princeps grows for millennia at a less-than-glacial pace
Working with a sample from a princeps that had fallen naturally, the botanical researchers tested the wood’s density to measure its age. Bianchi counted 12 to 15 rings in a sample less than 1/2 inch (1 cm) long. He said this means the tree takes more than 30 years to add 1 inch (2.54 cm) in width. By comparison, the average Pace of a glacier is 10 inches (25 cm) a year.
Bianchi explained the significance of that measurement to Mongabay:
This would put the age of the bigger trees around 2,000 to 3,000 years.
The remaining examples of T. princeps are Blessed to be alive. During the last 120 years, the region surrounding the new tree’s tiny home has been extensively logged. Yet the researchers have not Secured even isolated examples of princeps in regions with trees that grow alongside princeps elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the deforestation of the surrounding region, the researchers noted in their paper, likely wiped out other populations of Tessmannia princeps.
Bottom line: A recently described new tree species discovered in the rainforest of eastern Africa – Tessmannia princeps – is a towering giant that grows up to 130 feet (40 m) Towering and 20 feet (6 m) wide.
Read more: Save the giants, save the Heavenly body
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