Researchers have officially named a species of daisy indigenous to Taiwan nearly 100 years after it was discovered and misidentified, the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Research Institute said on Monday.
The Aster kanoi, an endangered species, grows natively along the northern half of the central mountain range at an altitude of about 3,000m above sea level, the institute said.
Japanese naturalist Tadao Kano in the summer of 1928 discovered the plant, describing it in a 1930 publication as similar to the marguerite daisy — commonly known as the Paris daisy.
Photo provided courtesy of Chung Shih-wen
The plant was misidentified as Aster morrisonensis, which also grows along the central mountain range, but is more common, the institute said.
Several years later it was misidentified again as Aster takasagomontanus, but it was not until last year when researchers discovered the mistake and Aster kanoi became a newly recognized species of daisy, the institute said.
In August last year, a research team followed Kano’s route along the mountain range and collected samples for study.
The team last month confirmed the new species and published their findings in this month’s issue of the Taiwania.
Chung Shih-wen (鐘詩文) — one of the researchers who participated in the study — said Aster kanoi is found at Nanhushan (南湖大山) in Taichung, at the central range peak near the border between Taichung and Hualien County, and along cliff faces at the edge of the forest in Taroko National Park.
In the past, it was often mistaken for Aster takasagomontanus, but that species grows at a higher altitude, he said.
Because Aster kanoi grows within a more confined area high in the mountains, it is vulnerable to environmental change, and should be classified as an endangered species, he added.
Researchers said they were cleaning samples at the institute and would send stems to Yilan County’s Fushan Botanical Garden, which would cultivate the plant.
Taiwan has no facilities for conserving plants grown at such high altitudes, but with the samples collected, researchers would be able to better understand the flower, Chung said.
Fushan Botanical Garden assistant researcher Lin Chien-jung (林建融) said that although Fushan is only 600m above sea level, he was able to grow high-altitude plants even without a temperature-controlled environment.
Institute director-general Chang Bin (張彬) said that although part of the institute’s job is to discover new species, of greater importance was ensuring that species do not go extinct.
The institute is in its second year of a project to collect and conserve samples of Taiwan’s indigenous plants, he said.
Artificial cultivation of species was also helping researchers better understand the plants’ unique characteristics, he added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at