Takhtajania perrieri (Winteraceae)

Recently rediscovered Takhtajania perrieri (Winteraceae) is an example of potential collecting artifacts in natural history collections data.  Specimens provide only “presence” data at a finite number of collecting sites.  Our exploration of the Earth to date is still only fragmentary, such that large areas have never been sampled for their biodiversity. For over 85 years, Takhtajania was known only from its 1909 “type” collection from the Manongarivo Special Reserve in NW Madagascar, where it has still not been relocated.

Then, in 1994, a collection documented its rediscovery at the Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve ca. 100 km to the east, where a large population of over 10,000 individuals stretches over 10 km2.   A third locality within Masoala National Park came to light via a collection made in 1997.  Thus, until recent collections, our knowledge of the distribution of Takhtajania was incorrectly biased by the absence of adequate sampling and, indeed, still remains so.