A New Orchid Has Been Discovered in Colombia, Previously Unknown to Science
Researchers from three universities — the University of Antioquia, the University of Caldas, and the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) — discovered the orchid Lepanthes leonmoralesii in the cloud forests of the municipalities of Chinacota (Norte de Santander) and San Andres and Molagavita (Santander), in eastern Colombia. The scientists confirmed that the flower displays unique morphological characteristics that make it a new record for science.
The genus Lepanthes includes some of the smallest orchids in the world and is also one of the most diverse groups in the tropical Andes. Colombia is home to more than 400 species, many of them restricted to mountain forests and with very limited distributions.
The new species was found during several botanical expeditions to the high Andean forests of Santander and Norte de Santander, according to the Unimedios News Agency of the National University of Colombia (UNAL). Although at first glance it resembled other species in the genus, a detailed analysis of its floral structures confirmed that Lepanthes leonmoralesii is a taxon that had not been described until now.
Origin of the newly discovered orchid’s name
Among the features that distinguish it are the shape of its petals and sepals, as well as particular characteristics of the labellum (the most specialized structure of an orchid flower), differences sufficient to recognize it as a new species for science.
After comparing the specimens with national and international botanical collections and reviewing the specialized literature, the researchers ruled out that the flower corresponded to any previously recorded species. That process officially validated the discovery and allowed the description of the orchid L. leonmoralesii.
The name of the newly discovered flower‘s genus (Lepanthes) is clear, but where did the species name (leonmoralesii) come from? The researchers who discovered it said they chose it in honor of Leon Morales Soto, a forestry engineer and professor at the National University of Colombia (UNAL) Medellin campus, both for his legacy to botany and for training several generations of researchers.
Although Professor Morales Soto, who knows the Colombian flora in extraordinary detail, is now retired, it is still common to see him walking around the El Volador campus with a camera over his shoulder and his eyes fixed on trees, shrubs, palms, or any plant that sparks his curiosity.
“They caught me completely by surprise. I had no idea they were preparing this tribute,” Professor Morales Soto said, as quoted in the Unimedios bulletin. “For someone who has devoted his life to botany, to trees, palms, mosses, ferns, orchids, and, in general, to the study of plants, this recognition has immense value. As I told those attending the naming ceremony, this is almost like winning an Oscar.”
A living collection of trees bearing the professor’s name
Several of the researchers who took part in the discovery of Lepanthes leonmoralesii had been Professor Morales Soto’s students in courses such as Dendrology and Urban Silviculture. Through this tribute, they wanted to thank him for the passion for the plant kingdom that he instilled in them during their education and to highlight his work in research, teaching, and promoting the country’s plant diversity.
“That is one of the wonderful things about being a professor: living alongside many people, learning from them, and striving every day to know more so you can teach better,” the professor added in the same publication. “The commitment is permanent. You cannot say, ‘I already know.’ You have to keep studying because the idea is to pass on that knowledge as it should be. If humanity had never passed knowledge from one generation to another, where would we be now? Nowhere.”
But Professor Morales Soto’s career has already received other recognitions. The Arboretum and Palmetum at the Medellin campus, one of the university’s most representative green spaces, bears his name. The site is home to camajones, chiminangos, saman trees, perillos, yacas, panduratas, and more than one hundred species of palms, a living collection that began to take shape around 1984, was officially established in 1986, and today serves as a benchmark for research, teaching, and flora conservation at the UNAL Medellin campus.
With more than 600 species of trees and more than 100 species of palms, the Arboretum has become a living laboratory, and although it has borne his name for the past 10 years, Professor Morales Soto insists that it is a collective achievement. Now his name has been individually immortalized in the orchid that his former students have just discovered.