Tourists discovered new orchids

Scientists have confirmed the presence of a new orchid, discovered by a tourist in southern China.

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The leafless orchid has just been confirmed as a new species - (Photo: China Daily)

According to China Daily on April 18, this is a unique yellow orchid, no leaves and the largest of all known orchids. It was named Danxiaorchis sinchiana by scientists.

Danxiaorchis sinchiana was discovered by a tourist named Zhu Jiaqiang in the remote mountains of Shaoguan, Guangdong Province during a trip with friends in May 2010. Zhu then took a picture of it and posted it online, drawing the attention of botanists.

'It is very different from other orchids. When I saw Zhu's photo, I found it very special, so I immediately contacted him, " Zhai Junwen - working at the South China Botanical Garden (of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) , to speak.

The scientists then joined Zhu in an area with strange orchids. After careful research, they concluded that this was a new orchid and their research results were published recently in the American scientific journal Plos One .

Liu Zhongjian - a senior expert on natural spread of the Asian International Conservation Agency, said the findings show the richness and diversity of the 'gene bank' of orchids, particularly the structure. Special seeds of Danxiaorchis sinchiana will open a new research direction on the development of orchids.