ST. LOUIS—Missouri Botanical Garden’s Science and Conservation staff discover and name nearly 200 plant species annually.
That is around 10% of all new plant species scientists describe worldwide annually, per the Garden.
It highlighted ten of the new species Garden scientists found in 2025 including a cactus from Costa Rica, a plant to honor the 200th anniversary of Bolivia’s independence, a new entrance to the Daisy family in Peru and more.
Selenicereus haberi
The moonlight cactus genus, native to Costa Rica, was described by Barry Hammell, a retired Missouri Botanical Garden curator. He believes the species is likely endangered.
A tropical entomologist and “keen-eyed” botanist, William Haber, gave Hammel a cutting of the plant species 20 years ago because Habner suspected it was different from the more common moonlight cactus, Selenicereus wercklei. The retiree watched the cactus, “a climbing epiphyte,” stretch into the canopy of a fig tree in his yard in Costa Rica.
When Selenicereus haberi finally flowered, Hammel noted larger, rose red flowers with nearly spineless fruit. This was different from the yellowish green, abundantly spiny fruit of Selenicereus wercklei. A University of Costa Rica colleague found the same species in the wild to the north along the same mountain chain. The species was named Selenicereus haberi to honor Haber.
Drymonia Quinquagesima
Rocío Rojas and Rodolfo Vásquez, Missouri Botanical Garden described the African violet family plant from Peru, commenting its conservation status to be “critical.”
They believe orchid bees pollinate Drymonia Quinquagesima. The vibrant plant is named to recognizes the 50th anniversary of Missouri Botanical Garden’s presence in Peru. MoBOT focuses on botanical research and floristic exploration in collaboration with Peruvian scientists.
Diospyros schatzii
The drawing of Diospyros schatzii was done by A. Jouy. MoBOT say botanists use drawings of plants to precisely show details of a plant’s important characteristics such as fruit, flowers and leaf structure. Diospyros schatzii is an ebony or persimmon from Madagascar. Garden scientists Pete Lowry, Alexander Linan and Hasina N. Rakouth contributed to describing the near threatened relative of the persimmon.
Diospyros schatzii was named to honor the late George E. Schatz, a MoBOT scientist who studied and contributed to the conservation of Malagasy flora.
“Schatz had a particular passion for ebonies and initiated work on them in Madagascar,” notes the Garden.
With about 285 species, Diospyros represents the largest group of woody plants on the Madagascar. All but two Diospyros occur nowhere else on Earth.
Chalybea boliviensis
Alfredo Fuentes of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Fabián A. Michelangeli of the New York Botanical Garden and Darin S. Penneys from the University of North Carolina Wilmington wrote the description of the Melastoma family species from Bolivia. Chalybea boliviensis is the first species of Chalybea found in Bolivia. The genus is known for large, red flowers pollinated by hummingbirds. The majority of specimens of this species was collected by Scientists through work on the Madidi Project. Chalybea boliviensis’ name honors the 200th anniversary of Bolivia’s independence.
Puya farallonensis
Puya farallonensis, a Bromeliad, was discovered in Colombia and described by Julián Aguirre-Santoro of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Alejandro Zuluaga from Universidad del Valle, Colombia and Julio Betancur from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. It’s found in a poorly explored northwestern area of the Andes. Scientists located it within an isolated patch of páramo, an alpine tundra ecosystem.
Puya farallonensis is proposed to be critically endangered as it grows among rocks in a region affected by “intense illegal gold mining.” MoBOT says access to the area is only possible with military escort and national park rangers as to avoid conflicts with the miners.
Sciadocephala gentry
A new endangered entry to the Daisy family comes from Peru and was described by John Pruski and Rosa Ortiz of the Missouri Botanical Garden. They named Sciadocephala gentry to honor the late Alwyn H. Gentry, a longtime Garden curator. In fact, Gentry collected this understory herb in 1988 and in the last 37 years, the plant has only been recollected three times.
The species was published as part of a special collection of articles commemorating Gentry since he “revolutionized the study of tropical forest ecosytems through his innovative approaches, publications, teaching and mentoring.”
Heteropolygonatum farreri
A vegetable! Aaron Floden, Missouri Botanical Garden, described the Asparagus family entry from China and Myanmar. The species is likely threatened per Floden. Heteropolygonatum farreri was first collected from Myanmar in 1919 and remains the only known flowering collection of the species. It was initially confused for another species but DNA testing confirmed it to be a new species of Heteropolygonatum.
Mimusops sahakensis
Richard Randrianaivo of Missouri Botanical Garden, Laurent Gautier of Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève and University of Geneva described the endangered Sapodilla family plant from Madagascar. The small trees grow on stabilized sand dunes on the eastern coast of northern part of the island. Mimusops sahakensis flowers from December to May but produces fruit year-round. Its name pays tribute to the Lac Sahaka Region where scientists first discovered the species. Mimusops sahakensis has only been found in two locations, both of which face threats from charcoal production.
Anthurium palcazuense
An Anthurium, from Peru and the southern region of Ecuador, was described by Tom Croat of the Garden. He says it’s endangered has elongated leaves with a heart-shaped base that dries brown. It’s one of 63 new species published by Croat in 2025 that belonged to the Anthurium section Xialophyllium, a group now comprising 101 known species. His 50 year-long study of the genus included collections from more than 5,000 separate sites throughout Anthurium palcazuense’s range in the Neotropics and culminated in the publication. Croat and Xavier Delannay, a colleague, studied and measured over 3,000 herbarium collections.
Sciodaphyllum austroviolaceum
Pete Lowry and Marcela Mora of Missouri Botanical Garden and Gregory Plunkett with the New York Botanical Garden described the ivy or ginseng family species from Ecuador. Scientists say Sciodaphyllum austroviolaceum is resembles the hair of Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. Lowry, Mora and Plunkett characterized Sciodaphyllum austroviolaceum by its leaves which have purple or purple-brown hues when dry and flowers grouped in small umbels. It’s one of 10 new species in the Violaceum group described in 2025 by this trio. Of those new species in the Violaceum group, three are vulnerable, four are endangered and one is critically endangered, according to preliminary risk assessments using the IUCN Red list criteria.
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