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Stunning new orchid species grows in lawns and parks in Japan

It was thought that Japan was home to only one species of Spiranthes orchid, but researchers have now found another

By Sofia Quaglia

17 March 2023

Spiranthes hachijoensis was hiding in plain sight

Masayuki Ishibashi

A new orchid species – a delicate cousin of a known orchid – has been identified in Japan.

Japan’s flora has been exhaustively studied, and so botanists were under the impression that the mainland is home to just one species from the Spiranthes genus of orchids: Spiranthes australis. But in May 2015, Kenji Suetsugu at Kobe University in Japan stumbled upon an unusual type of orchid while on a field trip exploring the grasslands of the Chiba prefecture.

Suetsugu spotted a cluster of rosy petals …

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