Thursday, 17 Dec 2020 09:48 PM MYT
An orchid (Gastrodia agnicellus) is seen in this handout photo taken in Madagascar September 20, 2019. Rick Burian handout pic via Reuters
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LONDON, Dec 17 Orchids are not often called ugly, but that is how the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, described a new species of the normally vibrant and delicate flower discovered in the forests of Madagascar.
Gastrodia agnicellus, one of 156 plants and fungal species named by Kew scientists and their partners around the world in 2020, has been crowned “the ugliest orchid in the world”.
Rick Burian
Orchids are usually seen as beautifully coloured flowers, but a newly discovered species from Madagascar is far from pretty.
The plant,
Gastrodia agnicellus, was discovered earlier this year in the deep shade underneath leaves on the forest floor in Madagascar. This small, brown orchid spends most of its life underground and has no leaves, only surfacing to produce fruit and disperse its seeds.
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“I’m sure its mother thinks it’s very lovely,” says Johan Hermans at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, who discovered the species. Hermans says the name “
agnicellus” comes from the Latin word for “little lamb” as it has a woolly, tuberous root. “With a bit of an imagination, you can almost see a lamb’s tongue in the flower.”