Photograph: Lars Chatrou
Diaphananthe thomensis is an epiphytic orchid and one of around 40 species found only in São Tomé and Príncipe. The specimen in the West Wing of the Tropical Greenhouse (ST-0-COI-2016/00216) comes from a collaboration between the Botanical Garden and the government of São Tomé and Príncipe, which supports the conservation of the archipelago’s flora. This rare orchid can only be seen in cultivation at the Bom Sucesso Botanical Garden in São Tomé and in Coimbra. It was first described in 1891 from material collected by Francisco Quintas, a Santomean collector trained by Adolfo Möller, a naturalist at the University of Coimbra Botanical Garden. The plant produces small flowers along long inflorescences that take about a year to mature, reaching their peak in April, and are notable for their nectar spur, swollen at the tip.