A spontaneous detour led the group to the new species of plant, which has dozens of unique spines resembling a ladder.
abc.net.au/news/bush-tomato-species-discovered-nt-national-park/101806166During a nature walk along one of the Northern Territory's most spectacular lookouts, botanist Peter Jobson and his companions were stopped in their tracks by an unusual looking plant."You can see 20 or 30 spines going up, and they look like the rungs of a ladder," Mr Jobson said.
"We looked for the Latin word for 'stairs' or 'ladder', and fortunately it's the same thing — it's 'scalarium'.The scientists came across the unusual species while hiking through the Judbarra/Gregory National Park. "In our paper, we wanted to acknowledge that this was also climbing up to go into the national park."
"It's also about us introducing the general public back into the wilderness that we have, particularly in the Northern Territory, which is probably one of the best places to be isolated in such an easy way," Mr Jobson said.The vast Judbarra/Gregory National Park, located 360 kilometres south of Darwin, is recognised as a botanically rich area, meaning there are potentially hundreds of species yet to be formally identified.
He said it was also possible to take a sample into the lab for testing, where it could be tested for the toxic compounds.Mr Jobson said he was excited for further research to be conducted on the plant.
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