Tree that lives underground among newly named plant species

Two types of tree and a palm that live underground are among the new plant species named in 2023 and highlighted by scientists at the Royal Botanical Garden Kew in the UK.

The palm is unique, as the only species known to flower and fruit almost exclusively underground, and was discovered in Borneo. The trees were discovered in the deep Kalahari sands of highland Angola, where the free-draining terrain has led a number of species evolving to live at least 90% underground.

Other new species include an orchid found atop a volcano, fungi from the apparently barren wastes of Antarctica and a novel fungus found in food waste in South Korea. The most mysterious new species is a plant from Mozambique that appears to be carnivorous.

There are 400,000 named plant species but scientists estimate there are another 100,000 yet to be identified. The botanists are in a race against time to discover many plants and fungi before the ongoing destruction of the natural world drives them to extinction. Lost species not only means their unique biology is gone for ever, but also potential human uses as medicines, food and even plastic recyclers.