Extremely rare ghost orchid reappears in UK:we hadn't seen one for fifteen years

Enthusiasm among British botanists for the discovery of a ghost orchid:in the past it had even been declared extinct.

• A very rare ghost orchid has been found in the United Kingdom (Epipogium aphyllum).
• The location was kept secret to avoid risks, given that the plant risks extinction.

Richard Bate He works as a dentist, but he has a passion:there botany.He says that it all started when, as a child, he was in the English county of Warwickshire and accidentally came across a vespiaria (Ophrys apifera), a plant that belongs to the orchid family.Orchids are his obsession.And it is easy to imagine his enthusiasm when, after having searched for her in vain over and over again over the last thirty years, he finally found it a very rare one ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum).It's been fifteen years since anyone last spotted one in the UK.

The characteristics of the very rare ghost orchid

THE'ghost orchid it lives at high altitudes (even up to 1,800 meters) in central and northern Europe; it has also been found, albeit sporadically, in Italy.In the territory of the United Kingdom it is between the rarest plants in absolute terms, so much so that – before this latest discovery – the most recent dated back to 2009.At the time, however, it had just been declared extinct, only to be found a few days later.

This extravagant name is due to the appearance of the flower, which has a color bright white and blooms on such a thin stem that it gives the almost "otherworldly" impression of being suspended in the air.The plant it has no leaves or chlorophyll, therefore it does not photosynthesize and does not need sunlight;it depends on a fungus to survive.If the appropriate environmental conditions are lacking, with humid springs and cold winters, years can pass between one flowering and another.Years in which the plant remains hidden in the ground, in the shade of the trees.

A species at risk of extinction that must be protected

Currently, the ghost orchid is classified as “critically endangered" in the Red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means that it is prohibited to collect or dig it up.This is one of the reasons why British botanists preferred to keep secret the precise location where the flower was found:they don't want to run the risk of someone tearing it or stepping on it.

Kevin Walker, chief scientific officer of the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, describes this discovery as “exceptional”.And he comments on it with words full of optimism:“Knowing that the ghost orchid is still here and that it is not extinct in the UK fills me with hope for the future of this species.This discovery reminds us that, even in the darkest forest, there is always hope."