Many people believe orchids to be the epitome beauty. The colourful, delicate and fragrant blooms an orchid will be the centrepiece any floral display. However, botanists have just decided the world's ugliest orchid. The orchid family comprises more than 25,000 individual species, so there is every likelihood that one or two might not exude exquisiteness. A newly discovered variety has been awarded the label the world's ugliest orchid botanists the Royal Botanic Gardens in the UK. It was found last year a forest in Madagascar. One saving grace the newly-unearthed plant is its smell. The scientists say the flower has a beautiful, musky, rose- fragrance.
The 'ugly" orchid has been named "gastrodia agnicellus". Researcher Johan Hermans said: "It's not very attractive, I must say. It's fleshy looking, red inside and brown the outside." However, scientists are excited finding the plant because they believe there could be many more lurking the undergrowth yet to be discovered. The bad news the gastrodia is that even though it has just turned , it is already considered to be an endangered species. Researcher Martin Cheek warned: "The bleak reality facing us cannot be underplayed. With two five plants threatened extinction, it is a race time to find, identify, name, and conserve plants before they disappear."
