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Published on September 11, 2007

It also declared that the Lady's Slipper orchid (Polyantha parishii) was now extinct, while its sister, the Paphiopedilum bellatulum, was under threat.

Kongkanda Chayamnarit, director of the NPWPCD Forest Herbarium, yesterday told a meeting on the biodiversity of plants and wildlife that research since October 2003 on rare and near-extinct plants nationwide had found that 2,000 were facing extinction.

Among them were the 15 newly discovered plants, while another 30 variations - found mostly in the Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary on the Thai-Malaysian border - were suspected to be new in Thailand and were being categorised, Kongkanda added.

So far, authorities have analysed, certified and published information about new plants in the Malvaceae family with the royally bestowed name Krua Thepparat (Thepparatia thailandica Phuph) and Kafak Wongkleep (Tolypanthus pustulatus Barlow) found only in Nong Khai's Phu Wua Wildlife Sanctuary.

Other newly discovered plants are Sor Hin (Gmelina racemosa (Lour) Merr); Daad Chompu (Begonia sp) found only in Si Sa Ket's Khao Phra Wihan; and the Chai Hoy (Shorea macropterh) tree found in Yala's Betong district.

"The herbarium has only studied 40 per cent of the plants found in Thailand in the past 40 years because of a staff shortage," she explained, adding that the office aimed to study and categorise another 40 per cent of the plants in the next five years. If Thailand could categorise another 10,000 plants, it would be beneficial to research and commercial use, she added.

The Nation