A group of botanists have discovered a new species of flower on a remote Hawaiian hillside. The new plant is called Cyanea heluensis and features curved white flowers.
The newly discovered flower is so rare that there is only one plant of its species.
Cyanea heluensis
The plant was discovered in the city of Lahaina by botanists Hank Oppenheimer and Jennifer Higashino, as the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources press release notes. Scientists were studying the area's steep, rugged slopes when they found the flower. The inaccessibility of the site and the difficulty of traversing the terrain probably contributed to the fact that this plant had not been found before.
The white flower has similarities to a native plant called Haha, but its curved flowers are quite different. They are pollinated by birds and eventually produce orange fruits that are eaten by local fruit-eating birds while they disperse the seeds. Botanists have been scouring the area where the rare plant was found, trying to find more seeds of this type, but they haven't achieved it yet.
The plant has been added to the list of 250 species monitored by the University of Hawaii's Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP). Safeguards have been installed at the discovery site, especially against slugs, rats, pigs and goats.
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The news
This newly discovered plant is so rare that only one of its kind has been found so far
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.