According to botanist – PhD. Do Van Truong, researching and discovering new species is like the process of ‘hunting’. In that hunt, there were tears, days of eating and sleeping in the woods, even lost in the middle of the world.
Lost in the middle of a thousand secludes
Being passionate about plants and sticking to plant research, especially flowering plants, TS. Do Van Truong , Vietnam Museum of Nature, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, famous scientist for many discoveries for new species, dedicates his youth to focus on research in this field. 
TS. Do Van Truong on a field trip. Along with the professional work such as biodiversity research, plant resources … an important part of the TS’s indispensable work. Do Van Truong and colleagues to find and identify new species for science. And each new finding is published is a special story with lots of sweat and tears. TS. Do Van Truong recalled that in 2017, when he was on a field research trip in Kom Tum, he was on his way back to Nha Trang and happened to be surfing on Facebook and saw a young friend posting a picture of a tree wildly. See photo, TS. Do Van Truong saw that this was a very strange tree, never seen before. Immediately exceed 200 km to enter Binh Dinh area and approach strange trees. Arrived, TS. Do Van Truong received guidance from a local resident and confirmed that it only took half a day to both go and return. So at 10:00 a.m. the group set off with their inventory of a few loaves of bread for a makeshift lunch in the woods. As expected, about 2 hours later, we have reached the place where there are strange trees. The team was very happy and spent an hour observing, describing, recording, and collecting samples of strange plants to study. Due to the fact that indigenous people have a clear understanding of the terrain in the area, the group decided that when they returned, they would not return to the old road but approach another forest area to find a trail back to the village. However, the more you get lost. 5:00 pm, darkness collapses, only 2 small biscuits left, the phone has no waves, cold weather and small rain. The group decided to stop and approach the nearest mountain to hope for phone waves, because according to many years of experience in the jungle, TS. The more you know, the more you get lost and lose your energy. Hunger, cold, and even panic occasionally rekindled. 5am the next morning, TS. Do Van Truong and his colleagues decided to go back to the old way. The group went continuously for 5 hours to reach a large stream flowing back to the village and met two communal militiamen who were on a mission to “find stray scientists”. As it turned out, during the night, many of the people in the village were unable to sleep because of their anxiety. The police, the military, even professional hunters were mobilized to find you. “It was a memorable trip in life. Hungry, thirsty, arriving in tattered clothes. Luckily, this strange tree was later researched and identified as genus (Michaelmoelleria F.Wen, YGWei & TVDo, gen. Nov.) And plant species (Michaelmoelleria vietnamensis F.Wen, ZBXin & TVDo, sp. nov.) new to world science ”Dr. Do Van Truong said 
Michaelmoelleria vietnamensis F.Wen, ZBXin & TVDo, sp. nov. The feeling of a winner TS. Do Van Truong added a memory, that is in 2018, during a trip to investigate and survey the flora of Vu Quang National Park (Ha Tinh), on the way back, colleagues discovered a tall vines. , beautiful flowers immediately take it and send it to you. At this time, TS. Do Van Truong is working in China, when he received the photo, he had a premonition that this was a very strange plant in his group. 
TS. Do Van Truong on a field trip When he returned home, he decided to find this vine. By the end of 2020, TS. Do Van cooperated with Vu Quang National Park to conduct a field trip to an area where strange plants were recorded before. This is a dangerous terrain and very far from the ranger station, so the group decided to sleep in the forest with determination to “hunt” with strange trees. At 6 am, the group will start their journey from the ranger station until 4pm to reach the desired area. However, within a radius of 1 km where colleagues used to take pictures, PhD. The red-eyed field still cannot see vines or regenerated seedlings of strange plants. TS. Truong commented that it is possible that individuals of strange plants have died due to the strong impact of previous droughts. At 5:30 it was dark, the group decided to camp, rest and drink wine for the sad: “Quiet space, darkness covered, and depressed mood. That feeling, I still remember until now ”, TS. Do Van Truong recalls. 7:30 the next morning, TS. Do Van Truong decided to search again, in the hope that the tree has flowers, that is to bear fruit, and is a source of seeds for regenerating seedlings. This is an area where the forest is not affected, definitely the trees are just around somewhere. He went back and forth many times, digging through the forest ropes, he finally found, it was a tree trunk lying hidden in a large cluster of trees. “At that time, she was sweaty and tired. But the feeling of victory is great ”. Up to now, on the basis of the results of analysis and research, PhD. The school has confirmed that this is a new plant species for world science, named: Aristolochia vuquangensis TVDo, sp.nov. 
Aristolochia vuquangensis TVDo, sp.nov. Fruit for efforts Hard, even dangerous, however, TS. Do Van Truong has received “sweet fruits”. In the period 2010-2020, PhD. Do Van Truong and colleagues have discovered and described 1 genus and 28 new species of higher plants for world science, of which 1 genus and 22 species were discovered and described in Vietnam. Also in the period from 2010-2020, PhD. Do Van Truong and colleagues have published a total of 26 scientific works describing new plant species in international journals. In which, 23 works were published in prestigious international magazines. According to TS. Do Van Truong, research to discover and describe new species for science, especially newly discovered species in Vietnam is of great significance. The first is to highlight the role and importance of biodiversity in Vietnam, which is a solid scientific basis for classification for conservation and application research. learning, probiotics …). In addition, scientists initially researched, propagated and successfully conserved a number of new species. This is an important basis to conduct research activities to develop precious plant genetic resources in Vietnam for the needs of use (medicinal herbs, ornamental plants, food for insects …), making an important contribution to the process. process of conservation and sustainable development of wild plant species. There are many concerns Being enthusiastic and pursuing plant research for many years, PhD. Do Van Truong said that he himself still has a lot of concerns. “Vietnam is a country with high biodiversity, but we do not have an in-depth research program on Vietnam’s flora. This is very unfortunate. We hope that there will be a unit with sufficient expertise and international relations to conduct a methodical and extensive research on the flora of Vietnam ”, PhD. Do Van Truong confided. One more concern of TS. Do Van Truong, that is attracting young people to participate in plant research. Part of the reason is that basic research is always a “silent” industry that has not been given adequate attention and investment. Moreover, the difficult life makes many young people who graduated from school are not eager to do research but turn to another direction. “If this situation continues, not knowing after 10-20 years, who will we marry to continue our work”. Invite readers to watch the video: Urgently clarify the cause of the son-in-law shooting, the wife’s parents died and then committed suicide. Source ANTV.
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