Orchids are usually appreciated for their grace and beauty, but a recently described species from Madagascar will probably not win any beauty contest. Its small flowers are variegated brown and look like a moldy paper bag (or maybe a wormless, worm-like head, mouth gaping in a silent scream or to consume your soul).
No wonder the new species has been named “the ugliest orchid in the world” by the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) in the United Kingdom, which recently placed the newcomer at the top of a list of species discovered in 2020, said the representatives in a statement.
The leafless orchid, called Gastrodia agnicellus, it grows underground in decaying leaf litter for most of its life cycle and is fed on fungi. In addition to the “small, brown and rather ugly” orchid, researchers and collaborators with RBG Kew described more than 150 plants and fungi this year, according to the statement.
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In 2019, British botanist Johan Hermans, honorary research associate at RBG Kew, found a number of G. agnicellus orchids hiding under the litter of leaves in a rainforest of Madagascar. Their elongated, elongated shapes suggested that the flower belonged to a group known as the potato orchid, and the flowers, which measure about 0.4 inches (1.1 centimeters) in length, emit a “visible musk rose scent” that intensifies when air temperature is warmer, Hermans wrote in a study published on November 5 in the journal Curtis’s Botanical Journal.
Other newly described species on the list include a heat-resistant scales shrub that grows in Namibian salt marshes (Tiganophyton karasense) a Peruvian plant with purple tubers that could be a new food crop (Ipomoea noemana) and a vibrant, colorful bromeliad – a family of tropical flowering plants that includes pineapple – from Brazil (Acanthostachys calcicola) which grows on limestone rocks and can be pollinated by hummingbirds, according to the statement.
“In a difficult and challenging year, it’s so exciting to see botanical and mycological science continuing, with a list of newly named incredible species bars documented with our collaborators around the world,” said Martin Cheek, an RBG Kew botanist. and scientist Identification and Naming department.
“However, the gloomy reality we face cannot be underestimated: with two out of five plants threatened with extinction, it is a race against time to find, identify, name and conserve plants before they disappear,” he said. said Cheek.
Originally published on Live Science.