A rare species of orchid has been discovered on Samar Island but scientists are racing against time to protect what is left of this flower in the wild after it has been classified as “critically endangered.”
The Pseuderia samarana (Orchidaceae) is the first record of orchids belonging to genus Pseuderia in the Philippines, according to botanist Zhereeleen Meneses, a professor of environmental biology at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Pseuderia orchids, she said, are found primarily in New Guinea and on the islands of Moluccas, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands and Fiji.