Scientists have revealed a striking list of plants and fungi named in 2025, highlighting both nature’s creativity and its growing vulnerability. Researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and international partners described 125 new plant species last year, selecting 10 of the most unusual for a “weird and wonderful” showcase. Among them is a so-called zombie fungus from Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest that infects trapdoor spiders, bursting through their underground lairs to spread spores. The list also includes a dramatic bloodstained orchid from Ecuador that mimics female flies to lure pollinators, and a flame-coloured shrub from Peru named after Calcifer, the fire demon in the Studio Ghibli film Howl’s Moving Castle.
Scientists also identified a delicate snowdrop long grown in UK gardens but previously overlooked, tracing its origins to the subalpine grasslands of Mount Korab in the Balkans, where it is now critically endangered. Other discoveries include a tall tree from Papua New Guinea bearing fruits that taste like banana and guava, likely evolved to attract giant ground rats, and a new red-fruited palm from the Philippines prized by collectors. Researchers warn that discovery is a race against time, with up to three-quarters of unnamed plant species already threatened by habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Experts at Kew stress that naming species is essential for conservation, as it is impossible to protect what science has not yet formally identified.
