A lonely and only population of about 30 orchids reddish-violet to dark garnet grows on a small plot of land on the border between two departments of southern Colombia. It has an extremely small habitat, but this is not, by far, the most striking of this new species.
When you look closely its flowers can be seen to what appears to be the head of a devil. For this demonic aspect, this new orchid has been called Telipogon diabolicus. It is described in the open access journal PhytoKeys.
Discovered by researchers at the University of Gdansk in Poland, the new orchid has a stem measuring between 5.5 and 9 cm.As its only known habitat is restricted to a single population in a forest of a small mountain on the border between the Colombian departments of Putumayo and Nariño, the diabolical orchid has been assigned as a critically endangered species on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The curious orchid could be mistaken for a couple of other species, but has some easily identifiable features that make it unique. Apart from the demon head hidden in the heart of its colors, the same petals have a characteristic shape that is not found in other Colombian species of the genus.
The catalog of Colombian plants has almost 3,600 species of orchids representing about 250 genera. “However, there is no doubt that hundreds of species occurring in this country remain undiscovered. Only in 2015 more than 20 new products were published based on material collected in Colombia, “the authors say.
The species are also added to the list of flowers that have the most whimsical shapes, often with the intent to deceive insects or go unnoticed.
