Rachel Kaufman, freelance reporter

I'm an interrogator of gargoyle lovers, frog fondlers, and the eternal optimists saving the news industry. These are some of the stories I've written.

World’s Smallest Orchid Discovered (By Accident)

By • Published: , Dec 3rd, 2009 • Category: Science

by Rachel Kaufman
Published in National Geographic News
2009-12-03

The world’s smallest known orchid (pictured)—just over 2 millimeters (0.08 inch) across and nearly see-through—has been discovered nestled in the roots of another flower in Ecuador, scientists announced this week.

Lou Jost, an ecologist with the EcoMinga plant-conservation foundation, has studied the plants of the South American country’s mountainous forests for 15 years.

Earlier this year he’d collected an orchid of a larger species to study in his greenhouse. “Several months later I saw this tiny plant,” he said.

Read the rest at News.NationalGeographic.com