--- title: Meet the World’s ‘Newest’ Plants description: Scientists found 1,730 new plant species globally in 2016, according to the most recent report from the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Here are three of the most notable discoveries. canonical: https://time.com/4793887/meet-the-worlds-newest-plants/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-25T12:39:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:06:53.401Z article:section: World og:title: Meet the World’s ‘Newest’ Plants og:description: Scientists found 1,730 new plant species globally in 2016, according to the most recent report from the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Here are three of the most notable discoveries. og:url: https://time.com/4793887/meet-the-worlds-newest-plants/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the World’s ‘Newest’ Plants twitter:description: Scientists found 1,730 new plant species globally in 2016, according to the most recent report from the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Here are three of the most notable discoveries. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Meet the World's 'Newest' Plants by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John May 25, 2017 12:39 PM CUT by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John May 25, 2017 12:39 PM CUT MUCUNA CHIAPANECA The climbing vine, which was found in Mexico, is one of nine new species that are related to the genus Mucuna. They contain a dopamine precursor, L-DOPA, which may help treat Parkinson’s disease. MANIHOT DEBILIS Scientists found this wild relative to cassava–a diet staple in the developing world–in central Brazil. It could help scientists develop new strains of cassava that are more resistant to climate change. BEGONIA ACIDULENTA This 19-in.-long plant is one of 29 new species of Begonia that were discovered mainly in the forests of Malaysia. Locals use its leaves to polish silver and as an acidic food flavoring. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4793887/meet-the-worlds-newest-plants/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4793887/meet-the-worlds-newest-plants/"},"headline":"Meet the World's 'Newest' Plants","datePublished":"2017-05-25T12:39:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:06:53.401Z","description":"Scientists found 1,730 new plant species globally in 2016, according to the most recent report from the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Here are three of the most notable discoveries.","url":"https://time.com/4793887/meet-the-worlds-newest-plants/","keywords":["nature"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4793887/meet-the-worlds-newest-plants/","name":"Meet the World's 'Newest' Plants"}}]}] ```