Helping New Zealand's demure native orchids

Cooper’s orchid is New Zealand’s rarest and most elusive - with fewer than 250 plants left in the wild. It belongs to the group of potato orchids, which grow mostly as tubers, except for a brief period every few years when they push out a leafless stick with a few flowers. This underground lifestyle already presents a challenge, but saving this species is even harder because, like all orchids, the Cooper’s orchid can only produce seedlings with the help of the right soil fungus. After years of lab experiments to produce in-vitro seedlings, botanists are now ready to boost the dwindling wild populations of Cooper’s orchids.