Pioneers of botanical research since 1759, scientists at Kew Gardens, based in London, have named 190 new plants and fungi together with partners in 2025.
Over the last 12 months, Kew taxonomists together with their collaborators have named 125 plants and 65 fungi internationally.
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The list includes a 'zombie' fungus from Brazil, a 'bloodstained' orchid from Ecuador, a suspicious snowdrop from the Balkans and a fiery plant named after a Studio Ghibli character. Despite their recent discovery, several of the species are already under threat and at risk of extinction due to human activities.
At least one of the newly discovered species, Cryptacanthus ebo from the Ebo forest, Cameroon, may have already gone extinct in its native habitat.
The discovery of the new species, combined with the imminent threat of losing them, highlights the ongoing global loss of biodiversity and need for conservation.
Where possible, scientists will work with partners on the ground to protect these delicate species in their habitat by incorporating them into a network of Important Plant Areas (IPAs), or conserving their seeds at national seed banks and Kew Garden's Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst.
Dr Martin Cheek, senior research leader in RBG Kew’s Africa team, says: “Describing new plant and fungal species is essential at a time when the impacts of biodiversity loss and climate change accelerate before our eyes: it is difficult to protect what we do not know, understand and have a scientific name for.
“Each identification of a new species to science helps us better understand ecosystems. Without this foundational knowledge, species conservation efforts fail.”
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10 weird plant species discovered in 2025
Gruesome spider-killing fungus from Brazil
The newest member of the fungal kingdom, this is a entomopathogenic fungi that parasitises other organisms and are colloquially known as zombie fungi.
Purpureocillium atlanticum is a spider eating fungus from the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil which infects trapdoor spiders buried in the forest floor, covering the spider almost completely with soft, cotton-white mycelium.
In an even more gruesome twist, once the spider is infected, an up-to-two centimetre long fruiting body emerges from the corpse, passes through the trapdoor hole of the spiders burrow, and is held above the ground to release its spores and continue the cycle.
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The bloodstained orchid growing on tree daisies in Ecuador
Orchids are normally known for their delicate beauty, but the Telipogon cruentilabrum goes by the disconcerting nickname the 'blood stained' orchid due to the apparent bloodstained lip of the flower. The species grows epiphytically (non-parasitically) on tree daisies, about 1.5 to 3 m above the ground.
More than half this species' habitat has already been destroyed, and continues to be cleared due to mining and agriculture. Due to this destruction, it has already been informally assessed as Endangered.
There are about 250 known species of Telipogon, all in South and Central America and the Caribbean. They are notoriously difficult to cultivate and species can only be identified when in flower.
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The fire demon flower of Peru
Due to its beautiful flame-like bright orange-red and yellow flowers, this three metre tall forest acanth shrub was name after Calcifer, the fire demon in the 2004 cult Hayao Miyazaki film Howl's Moving Castle. As such, scientists think Aphelandra calciferi has great potential as a conservatory ornamental plant.
A new subspecies of ‘living stone’ from savannah woodland in Namibia
Famous for their stone-like camouflage, lithops or 'living stones' received a new member of the group with the discovery of the Lithops gracilidelineata subsp. mopane – a new subspecies of lithops.
Despite their pebble-like appearance, lithops are actually succulents with a single pair of leaves that admit light through an upper 'window' into the internal ops gracilidelineata subsp. mopane is a new subspecies of lithops or ‘living stones’, a group of plants famous for their stone-like camouflage.
Although at first glance they appear to be no more than a pebble, lithops are succulents with a single pair of leaves that admit light though an upper ‘window’ into the internal photosynthetic surfaces, and the plants bear a single, daisy-like flower.
The 38 known species are confined to arid regions of Namibia, South Africa, and Botswana, however, the new 'mopane lithops' differs from its cousins in being limited to a higher rainfall area with 'mopane' woodland.
Lithops are a popular plant in cultivation, but illegal over-collection from the wild to supply this market is driving species to extinction, and several have been assessed as Endangered or Vulnerable to Extinction.
A beautiful new snowdrop from Mt Korab, the Balkans
Snowdrops are found in cultivation here in the UK, however this unusual species of snowdrop didn't appear to match any known species as first observed by snowdrop enthusiast and co-author of the study Ian McEnery. Scientists investigating this mystery, led by Kew's Dr Aaron Davis, have since traced its origin to the subalpine grasslands of Mt Korab in northern Macedonia and Kosovo.
Officially named Galanthus subalpinus, it resembles the common snowdrop, G. nivalis, and its new species status was confirmed by DNA sequence analysis and genome size data.
Sadly, the tiny snowdrop has already been assessed as Critically Endangered due to its small population size and the threats from collecting for the horticultural trade. Overgrazing and fires are additional factors putting this species at risk.
New banana/guava-tasting tree fruit from the forest floor of New Guinea
A new edible discovery, this new species of fruit has been named Eugenia venteri, after collectors Arison Arihafa and Fanie Venter. According to the collectors, the fruit tastes like a delicious mix of banana combined with guava, with an aftertaste of eucalyptus.
The trees stand 18 metres high and inhabit Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, and despite their enormous height, the fruit can be easily picked off its whip-like stems that run down the trunk and along the ground for up to seven metres, producing white flowers.
The species is thought to have evolved to have its flowers pollinated and seeds dispersed by the giant ground rats that are found in New Guinea.
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Endangered 5-tonne tree from the Cameroon rainforest
By far the most gargantuan new discovery in this list is the 34 metre tall detarioid legume Plagiosiphon intermedium, which weighs in at 5 tonnes. Calling the Cameroon rainforest home, this legume tree is a member of the bean family, and is the first species to be added to the Plagiosiphon genus, previously with just five species, in nearly 80 years.
Plagiosiphon species are confined to the forests of Cameroon, Gabon and Congo, apart from one species extending to West Africa.
The new species is known from only two locations, both in Ngovayang, one of Cameroon’s top hotspots for unique plant species, but currently unprotected.
Fungus from grass roots in Inner Mongolia
A high proportion of the fungi scientists are yet to describe are expected to be fungi that are not easily detected by the human eye – lacking in large fruiting bodies such as toadstools. Some of these are fungal endophytes which spend their lives living inside living plants. The fungi don't disease the plants, and the relationship can even be beneficial to them.
One such species is the newly discovered Magnaporthiopsis stipae, which was isolated from the roots of a grass, Stipa sareptana, growing in Inner Mongolia, China.
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Elegant new Christmas palm, Critically Endangered in the Philippines
This beautiful, and already highly sought after, red-fruited palm is known locally as Amuring (in the Waray-Bisaya language), stands five to 15 metres tall on karst limestone ridges in a small area of typhoon-prone Samar Island, one of the Visayas of the Philippines.
It's designation as new to science proved a challenge as it was not immediately obvious what genus it belonged to. Only two other species are known in the genus, from Borneo, Palawan and Danjugan Island, including the Christmas palm (Adonidia merrillii, also known as Manila palm) – one of the most widely cultivated tropical ornamentals in the world.
The caterpillar orchid among six new orchids from Indonesian New Guinea and Maluku
Another orchid on the list, the caterpillar orchid, Dendrobium eruciforme, gets its name from the tiny, creeping plants that resemble a colony of caterpillars sitting on a tree trunk. This is the smallest of six new species published by Indonesian scientists along with Kew’s Andre Schuiteman.
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