1 . Last year, brilliant’ botanists from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, discovered, identified and named 114 spectacular new species of plants and fungi (真菌) from around the world. Let’s find out more about some of Kew’s most wonderful new finds.
ROYAL MUSHROOM
NAME: Queen’s hedgehog fungus
FROM: Surrey, England
Named after the late Queen Elizabeth II, this rare fungus was found in an ancient forest in White Down, Surrey. According to the scientists who discovered it, the soft, white needles under the fungus’15cm-wide cap look like hedgehogs’ needles — giving it the second part of its name. Cool!
WORLD’S STRANGEST DAFFODIL
NAME: Sternbergia mishustinii
FROM: Turkey
The flowers of this rare species are bright yellow, but they’re only 2cm long and don't open up into a visible flower. Just 300 of these plants have been discovered, secret to hide them from illegal plant collectors.
RECORD-BREAKING WATERLILY
NAME: Giant Bolivian waterlily
FROM: Bolivia. South America
Check out this huge waterlily — its 3m wide leaves are big enough for a kid to float on! The big species has just won three Guinness World Records for largest waterlily, largest waterlily leaf and largest undivided leaf. And get this — although the giant plant was only named last year, a dried sample has been kept in Kew’s own Herbarium since 1845! Botanists had thought it was a similar, related species. Thankfully, the case of mistaken identity is all cleared up now. Unbe-leaf-able!
1. What’s Queen’s hedgehog fungus like?A.It has yellow flowers. | B.It’s native to England. |
C.It looks like hedgehogs. | D.It’s critically endangered. |
A.The oldest fungi. | B.The biggest leaves. |
C.The fastest growing plant. | D.The largest waterlily species |
A.A botanical magazine. | B.A geographic textbook. |
C.A historical document. | D.Guinness World Records. |