Each year, the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Science and Conservation staff discover and name about 200 plant species new to science. That’s roughly 10% of all new plant species scientists describe worldwide annually.
Discovery is the first crucial step in plant conservation. Many newly-described species are critically endangered and at risk of disappearing. Once the species has a name, plans to try to ensure its survival can begin.
We’re still counting the number of new species discovered by the Garden this year, but here are a few highlights so far.
From Cutting to New Species (20 years later)
Species name: Selenicereus haberi
Type of plant: Cactus
Where it’s from: Costa Rica
Describers: Barry Hammell, Missouri Botanical Garden
Preliminary conservation status: Likely endangered
More about this plant: After more than 20 years, Barry Hammel, retired Garden curator, saw the cutting from a wild plant finally flower, prompting him to describe a new species in the moonlight cactus genus, Selenicereus. Tropical entomologist and keen-eyed botanist William Haber gifted Hammel the cutting years ago, saying he suspected was different from the more common moonlight cactus, Selenicereus wercklei. Hammel watched the plant, a climbing epiphyte, grow into the canopy of a fig tree in his yard in Costa Rica. When it finally flowered, Hammel noticed distinct features like larger flowers and rose red, nearly spineless fruit, compared to the yellowish green, abundantly spiny fruit of Selenicereus wercklei. Meanwhile, a University of Costa Rica colleague found the same species growing wild at a different site, further north along the same mountain chain. Together they published an article describing the new species, Selenicereus haberi, named to honor Haber.
Celebrating a Semicentennial
Species name: Drymonia quinquagesima
Describers: Rocío Rojas and Rodolfo Vásquez, Missouri Botanical Garden
Type of plant: African violet family
Where it’s from: Peru
Conservation status: Critical
More about this plant: Scientists think orchid bees pollinates this vibrant plant.
Orchid bees are a more specialized version of their relatives the honey bee and bumble bees. They are crucial pollinators for more than 700 species of orchids. Orchid bees also pollinate other tropical plants, like anthuriums.
The species name recognizes the 50th anniversary of the presence of the Missouri Botanical Garden in Peru. The Garden’s work focuses on botanical research and floristic exploration, all done in collaboration with local scientists.
Honoring a Legacy
Species name: Diospyros schatzii
Type of plant: Ebony or persimmon
Where it’s from: Madagascar
Describers: Garden scientists Pete Lowry, Alexander Linan, and Hasina N. Rakouth
Preliminary conservation status: Near threatened
More about this plant: This species, a relative of the persimmon, was named in honor of the late George E. Schatz, a Garden scientist who contributed immensely to the study of Malagasy flora and to its conservation. He had a particular passion for ebonies (Diospyros)and initiated work on them in Madagascar. Diospyros represent the largest group of woody plants on the island, with about 285 species, all but two occurring nowhere else on Earth.
The Garden’s “Precious Woods” project focuses specifically on ebonies and rosewoods in Madagascar. Learn more. >
Celebrating a bicentennial
Species name: Chalybea boliviensis
Type of plant: Melastoma family
Where it’s from: Bolivia
Describers: Alfredo Fuentes, Missouri Botanical Garden, Fabián A. Michelangeli, New York Botanical Garden, Darin S. Penneys, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Preliminary conservation status: Endangered
More about this plant: This is the first species of Chalybea, a genus known for large, red flowers pollinated by hummingbirds, described from Bolivia. Scientists collected the majority of the specimens of this species through work on the Madidi Project.
The name honors the 200th anniversary of Bolivia’s independence.
Rarer than gold
Species name: Puya farallonensis
Type of plant: Bromeliad
Where it’s from: Colombia
Describers: Julián Aguirre-Santoro, Missouri Botanical Garden; Alejandro Zuluaga, Universidad del Valle, Colombia; and Julio Betancur, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Preliminary conservation status: Critically Endangered (CR)
More about this plant: This species is endemic to a very small, isolated patch of páramo in the northwestern Andes, an area that appears to host a high number of endemic plants but is still poorly explored.
A páramo is a mountain ecosystem above the tree line in the Andes.
It is proposed as critically endangered because it grows among rocks in a region affected by intense illegal gold mining. Access is only possible with military escort and national park rangers to avoid conflicts with miners.
A New Daisy from Peru
Species name: Sciadocephala gentryi
Type of plant: Daisy family
Where it’s from: Peru
Describers: John Pruski and Rosa Ortiz, Missouri Botanical Garden
Preliminary conservation status: Endangered
More about this plant: This rare species was named in honor of the late Alwyn H. Gentry, a longtime Garden curator. Al Gentry collected this understory herb in 1988. In the 37 years since, the plant has only been recollected three times. Sciadocephala gentryi was published as part of a special collection of articles commemorating the life and work of Gentry. Gentry revolutionized the study of tropical forest ecosytems through his innovative approaches, publications, teaching and mentoring.
New Species from 1919 Specimen
Species name: Heteropolygonatum farreri
Type of plant: Asparagus family
Where it’s from: China and Myanmar
Describers: Aaron Floden, Missouri Botanical Garden
Preliminary conservation status: Data deficient, but likely threatened
More about this plant: Scientists first collected this plant from Myanmar in 1919. That early specimens remains the only known flowering collection of this unique species. Although initially confused for another species, DNA testing confirmed it to be a new species of Heteropolygonatum, a genus only described in 1997.
Out of Sand Dunes
Species name: Mimusops sahakensis
Type of plant: Sapodilla family
Where it’s from: Madagascar
Describers: Richard Randrianaivo, Missouri Botanical Garden; Laurent Gautier, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève and University of Geneva
Preliminary Conservation status: Endangered
More about this plant: This small trees grows on stabilized sand dunes on the eastern coast of northern Madagascar. It flowers from December to May and produces fruit year-round. Its name pays tribute to the Lac Sahaka Region in northeastern Madagascar, where scientists first discovered the species. It is only known from two locations, both of which face threats from charcoal production.
Anthurium 101
Species name: Anthurium palcazuense
Type of plant: Anthurium
Where it’s from: Southern Ecuador and Peru
Describers: Tom Croat, Missouri Botanical Garden
Preliminary Conservation status: Endangered
More about this plant: This species is one of the 63 new species published by Tom Croat in 2025 belonging to Anthurium Section Xialophyllium, a group now comprising 101 known species. This publication culminates Croat’s nearly 50 year-long study of the genus. He studied this group throughout its range and made collections in more than 5,000 separate sites throughout the Neotropics. Croat and colleague Xavier Delannay studied and measured more than 3,000 herbarium collections.
Anthurium palcazuense has elongated leaves with a heart-shaped base that dry brown.
Life Outside of Bart
Type of plant: Ivy or ginseng family
Where it’s from: Ecuador
Describer: Pete Lowry and Marcela Mora, Missouri Botanical Garden; Gregory Plunkett, New York Botanical Garden
Preliminary conservation status: Endangered
More about this plant: Does this new species look familiar? Scientists described the inflorescence of Sciodaphyllum austroviolaceum as often resembling the hair of Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons.
Sciodaphyllum austroviolaceum is one of 10 new species in the Violaceum group described in 2025 by Garden Scientist Pete Lowry and collaborators Gregory M. Plunkett, M. Marcela Mora, and David A. Neill. The group is characterized by leaves that have purple or purple-brown hues when dry and flowers grouped in small umbels.
Of the 10 new species in the Violaceum group, three are vulnerable, four are endangered, and one is critically endangered, according to preliminary risk assessments using the IUCN Red list criteria.
Catherine Martin
Senior Public Information Officer
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