sciencetech

This is so interesting. They've been around for ages, but scientists have only learned of them now.. The best way to document every single organism is to encourage citizen scientists. iNaturalist is a useful app/website for this purpose.

The palm was already known to local people but it had remained unnoticed by scientists, who believe the case highlights the need to collaborate more closely with Indigenous communities. “Local people in a remote village in central Kalimantan eat the fruits as a snack when doing activities in the forest,” said Randi. “It has a sweet taste, with quite thick flesh and a soft and juicy texture. We still don’t know about other uses of the plant, and there are many things that are still a mystery – for example, the process of pollination and who the pollinator is, and what causes this plant to produce flowers and fruit underground.”