A Botanist's Valentine: New Plant Species Discovered in Texas

Researchers have discovered a live sample of the incredibly rare Solanum cordicitum in the remote town of Valentine, west Texas.

This is the first time the commonly misidentified plant has been found since 1990, providing botanists an opportunity to properly identify its unique characteristics.

Jeffrey Keeling is one of several scientists who has been searching for the incredibly rare desert-dwelling plant, which is a scrappy-looking relative of the eggplant.

"Other species similar to it are perennials, but this is an annual. It blossoms once and dies, which makes it harder to find," he told The Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Keeling, a Sul Ross State University graduate, spent 10 days last November searching a 10-acre ranch in Valentine, Texas looking for an example of the plant. Just before he was due to leave the tiny town of 134 residents, the botanist stumbled upon the plant.

"It was my last day. I ran across it and fell to my knees," he said.

Solanum cordicitum is a Latin variation of "from the heart" - a subtle reference to Valentine, where it was found in 1990. The strange Texas town, while somewhat remote, is reportedly an iconic part of the state, with the post office exceptionally busy just before February 14. According to the Star Telegram, countless love letters are sent through that office on the way to their destination with the goal of being stamped "Valentine, Texas."

Lynn Bohs, who authored a study on the Valentine plant after its latest discovery, says that the town's "wild, wooly part of western Texas" remains "a very unexplored part of the United States," and is not common stomping ground for botanists.

Solanum cordicitum is a gangly looking plant that grows only to about two inches past a foot. While hairy like the eggplant, the lobbed plant is also covered with thick spines and is thought to be poisonous to humans and animals alike.

The discovery of this plant was very important to Bohs' work, which was published in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. It is a valuable addition to ongoing work funded by the National Science foundation to better classify and inventory nearly 1,500 species of flowering plants.