Scientists discover rare ancient plant thriving in flooded Amazon forests

Scientists have identified a new Amazonian species from an ancient lineage of cycads. The new species thrives year-round in permanently flooded forests, even with part of its stem underwater

Its unusual survival in oxygen-starved swamps expands where such ancient seed plants are known to live and intensifies pressure to protect the wetlands that sustain them.

Life in flooded forests

In the permanently flooded forests of Peru’s northern Loreto region, the new species of cycad stood rooted in saturated soil where most of its relatives would fail to survive

During fieldwork in 2025, Dr. Ricardo Zarate-Gomez from the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP) documented healthy specimens growing with their lower stems submerged, confirming that this lineage endures conditions once thought inhospitable to it.

Unlike other members of its group that depend on well-drained ground, this species remained viable in soil that stays waterlogged throughout the year.

That extreme habitat narrows its known range and sets up a closer look at how it withstands constant flooding.

Cycad built for low oxygen

Water in flooded soils displaces air pockets, so roots run short on oxygen and die. Most land plants cannot tolerate waterlogged conditions and will stop growing or suffer root rot.

A 2008 review described how water fills soil pores and forces plant cells to make energy with little oxygen.

Unlike most seed plants in this lineage, the new species kept its tissues alive even when water covered the base of its stem.

Such tolerance let it live in swamps without dry breaks, yet it also tied the plant to wetlands that people often drain.

Inside an ancient lineage

Taxonomists named the plant Zamia urarinorum, and a formal description laid out the traits that set it apart.

Within the cycads – seed plants with stiff leaves and cones – the genus Zamia mainly grows on well-drained tropical ground

Fossils and a 2015 analysis placed cycad evolutionary history deep in time, more than 200 million years ago.

Calling cycads living fossils can mislead, yet their lineages already existed when dinosaurs roamed, and living species later diversified.

Zamia, a name with meaning

Named for the Urarina people, Zamia urarinorum was found on Indigenous lands between the Tigrillo and Urituyacu Rivers in Loreto.

Local stewardship kept the wetlands intact enough for IIAP teams to work there, and it also gave the plant species room to persist

In villages such as Raya Yacu, Nuevo Horizonte, and Puerto Rico, residents guided visits and helped researchers record where plants grow.

Linking the scientific name to a living community made the discovery harder to separate from long-term protection decisions.

Cycad reproduction limits

Cone-like structures hold the seeds, and researchers reported that both cones and seeds were smaller than in close relatives.

Because male and female plants grow on separate individuals, reproduction depends on both sexes living close enough to share the same habitat.

Small populations can fail quietly if logging or flooding removes one sex, leaving fertile plants with no partner nearby

Mapping a new cycad range

Comparisons with plant collections and digital records helped separate Zamia urarinorum from similar species and clarified where its closest relatives grow.

Similar leaves can hide major differences, so botanists checked leaf traits and reproductive structures before drawing new range lines.

Across Amazonian wetlands and uplands, many Zamia populations still lack careful study, leaving gaps in knowledge about where each species lives.

Better maps let planners avoid key sites, and they also guide future searches for plants hiding in hard-to-reach swamps.

Carbon in the wetlands

Wetland forests slow floodwaters and store carbon in waterlogged soil, so losing them can raise emissions and change rivers.

In peatlands – wetlands where dead plants form thick peat instead of decomposing – constant saturation slows decay and locks in carbon for centuries.

A 2014 paper estimated about 3.5 billion tons of carbon in Peru’s Pastaza-Marañón peat basin.

Protecting a rare plant in flooded forests also protects the swamp soils that keep carbon out of the air.

Threats to cycads

Drainage for agriculture, oil spills, and new roads can push wetland forests toward collapse, even before scientists finish their surveys.

Lowering water tables dries soil and speeds up decay, while pollution can coat roots and block the little oxygen available.

With a narrow known range in Loreto, the team warned that the species might already be endangered before any official assessment.

Without quick safeguards, the discovery could become a record of a species already sliding out of sight.

Risk and reality

Conservation planning often starts with the IUCN, a global group that rates extinction risk, and the authors urged fast protection

Under IUCN criteria, assessors weigh range size, decline, and threats before assigning categories like “Endangered.”

“This finding positions our country as a leader in botanical research of tropical humid ecosystems,” IIAP scientists said.

Real protection will depend on local rules and enforcement, since an IUCN label alone cannot stop land conversion.

Research and conservation

Finding Zamia urarinorum in flooded forests linked deep plant history, unusual survival biology, and a wetland landscape under pressure.

Future work can map more populations and test its oxygen tolerance in detail, while conservation efforts decide whether wetlands stay intact.