New Species of Orchid is World’s Smallest [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]
tags: new species, biology, botany, orchid, tiniest orchid, Orchidaceae, Platystele, Lou Jost
A close-up of the world's smallest orchid, at just over 2mm from petal tip to petal tip.
Image: Lou Jost.
The world's smallest orchid was discovered recently in a mountainous nature reserve in Ecuador by American botanist Lou Jost. Dr. Jost, a former physicist, is one of the world's leading orchid hunters. In the previous decade, Dr. Jost discovered 60 new species of orchids and 10 other new plant species. He discovered this diminutive plant whilst examining another species of small orchid.
"I found it among the roots of another plant that I had collected, another small orchid which I took back to grow in my greenhouse to get it to flower," Dr. Jost stated. "A few months later I saw that down among the roots was a tiny little plant that I realized was more interesting than the bigger orchid."
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