BHUTAN

Vanda griffithii, an orchid species that was last spotted in Bhutan in 1843 have been rediscovered by two botanists. Phillip Cribb and Nicholas Pearce of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, the UK, said they also found 12 species of orchids that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. They also came across Calanthe brevicornu, a species that was not known to grow in Bhutan. According to the two botanist, they might have only "scratched the surface" of the country's half-unexplored floral diversity. Cribb said that Bhutan had little history of botanical exploration because of the country's difficult terrain and most orchid species thriving in inaccessible spots like treetops.