Rare species of palm named after Parkgate biologist who discovered it in Madagascar

Oct 14 2009 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

A RARE species of palm has been named after the Parkgate biologist who discovered it.

Dr Adam Britt found the plant – Dypsis Brittiana – while working as co-ordinator of the Madagascar Threatened Plants Project for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

He previously worked in Madagascar as research co-ordinator for Project Betampona – the first ever attempt to reintroduce captive-bred black and white ruffed lemurs into the wild

The 43-year-old, who attended Neston High School and Wirral Met College at Carlett Park, says he was “blown away” by the honour.

He now

He said: “When I was in Madagascar I made a number of expeditions to some quite remote regions of Madagascar looking for palms. It’s a lot easier than looking for animals because they don’t tend to move!

“I was in an area called the Makira Plateau with a colleague, Franck Rakotonasolo. While there we collected three new species of palm.”

Dr Britt now works for Natural England in Ainsdale but learned the palm had been named after him on a return visit to Kew.

He said: “A couple of weeks ago they were having an open day so I wandered in. I saw the woman who does a lot of botanical illustrations and she let the cat out of the bag and said “It’s funny I should see you, I’ve just been drawing a plant named after you’! – it came as a complete surprise.

“I was blown away and I feel tremendously elated that one has been named after me.”