Scientists also name an overlooked snowdrop growing in the UK and a fruit that tastes like banana and guava
A zombie fungus that springs from a trapdoor and a flame-like shrub named after the fire demon in the Studio Ghibli film Howl’s Moving Castle are among the species of plant and fungi named by scientists in 2025.
A list of 10 “weird and wonderful” new species was compiled by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew and their international partners, who together named 125 new plants last year. The list also includes an orchid whose flowers look bloodstained and attract sexually aroused flies, and a beautiful snowdrop that had been hiding in plain sight in UK gardens.
Among further new species named is a fruit that grows on the forest floor of Papua New Guinea and tastes like banana mixed with guava , and an elegant new Christmas palm from the Philippines.
There are estimated to be as many as 100,000 plant species globally that are yet to be discovered by scientists and 2-3 million species of fungi. Researchers name about 2,500 new plants each year on average.
