The white fringeless orchid grows in a handful of places in the Southeast. Only about 100 of the rare flowers bloom in Georgia in any given year. Now the plant is protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The flowers, also known as monkeyface orchids, are threatened by habitat loss, and, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, by collectors. The plant is now listed as “threatened.”
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources already protects the plant. The agency is working with the Atlanta Botanical Garden to save the remaining wild populations, and to raise white fringeless orchids in a lab.
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