Costa Rica News – A new species of orchid has been discovered and was named in honor of a Costa Rican, Christiana Figueres, who is a leader in the topic of climate change.
The name given to it is Karen Christianae. Christiana Figueres achieved getting 195 countries to sign the Paris Agreement to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, reducing global warming.
The new orchid is a vanilla specimen. It’s flowers are green with white. It has very thin leaved that are curved at the end. It appeared in an area with adverse conditions. There is little forest and protection there. Scientists wonder how they can conserve it.
The species is endemic to Costa Rica. It was found by Patricia Lehmann in Puntarenas, near the border with Panama. Before discovering this species, only two types in the vanilla genus has been known in Costa Rica.
Orchids are threatened because people like to have them in their homes and the vanilla has commercial potential.
