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Pasuruan, East Java. A previously unknown orchid had been identified on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara following three years of work to establish that it was a new discovery, the state-run Indonesian Institute of Sciences said on Monday.

Destario Metusala, an orchid researcher at the institute, which is known as LIPI, said the flower had been named Dendrobium floresianum and was announced in a note in the UK-based journal The Orchid Review.

Metusala said that work on the new species was led by Singaporean Peter O’Byrne.

Discovered by accident, the flower is believed to be closely related to D. obrienianum, which is found in the Philippines.

“[The species] is easy to propagate,” Metusala said. “Though it was discovered in the mountains, it adapts well to lower altitudes provided that the area is humid enough.”

The orchid blooms from April to May, from September to October and in January.

D. floresianum prefers areas with good air circulation and illumination of between 50 percent and 70 percent.

Metusala said that, like other Dendrobiums, D. floresianum is highly vulnerable to pests.

Based on LIPI data, about 2,000 of Indonesia’s 5,000 orchid varieties face extinction because of illegal logging and smuggling.

 

Antara