New plant species named after city found

ADIYAMAN

A group of experts have brought a new plant species to botany, with naming a different version of a campanula after the southeastern province of Adıyaman, where only 200 examples of the plant have been discovered.

The new plant species is named “Campanula adiyamanensis,” in Latin, simply called “Adıyaman campanula.”

According to Demirören News Agency, Şener Özcan, a botanist from Adıyaman University, who was picking up campanulas in the Sugözü Canyon, realized a “different-looking” campanula.

Özcan then contacted Hasan Yıldırım, a botanist from the Ege Universtiy in the Aegean province of İzmir, for support to figure out the plant.

Realizing that it was a new species, the duo penned an article in an international scientific magazine, announcing the “Adıyaman campanula” to the world.

“This is a plant that can grow in harsh conditions like the interior walls of a canyon,” Yıldırım said and added: “The surface of the canyon is small. Therefore, there are only 200 of these plants there.”

He made a call to the visitors of the canyon to be careful about the “Adıyaman campanula” and not pick them up.

According to Yıldırım, with the discovery of the “Adıyaman campanula,” the number of campanula species rose to 132 in Türkiye and 420 in the world.

“69 of them are endemic plants,” he said, calling Türkiye “a gene center for campanulas.”

Türkiye can be a hub for ornamental plant reserve “if this great potential can be used.”