Many people believe orchids to be epitome of beauty. The colourful, delicate and fragrant blooms of orchid will be centrepiece of any floral display. However, botanists have just decided on 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. newly discovered variety has been awarded label of the world's ugliest orchid by botanists at Royal Botanic Gardens in the UK. It was found last year in forest in Madagascar. One saving grace for newly-unearthed plant is its smell. The scientists say the flower has beautiful, musky, rose-like 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 on outside." However, scientists are excited at finding plant because they believe there could be many more lurking in undergrowth yet to be discovered. bad news for gastrodia is that even though it has just turned up, it is already considered to be endangered species. Researcher Martin Cheek warned: " bleak reality facing us cannot be underplayed. With two in five plants threatened with extinction, it is race against time to find, identify, name, and conserve plants before they disappear."
