Jane-Goodall Orchid

Named after a primatologist

The Jane Goodall orchid was discovered in 2003 during a collecting trip by members of the Leiden Botanical Garden and Naturalis, and was officially named in 2015. Dendrobium goodallianum is named after the famous primate researcher, Jane Goodall.

Dendrobium goodallianum flowers for only one day with a coconut-like fragrance – a distinctive characteristic as most orchids are virtually perfume-less. The plant is currently growing in a research greenhouse, which is not open to the public, because to date there is only one specimen known - the one in Leiden.

The region where the orchid originates from, Papua New Guinea, has succumbed to large-scale logging since 2003 and the habitat of the plant has probably been destroyed.

The recently discovered orchid acquired its name in 2014. Ed de Vogel and the former Leiden Greenhouse Manager, Art Vogel found this species in the Oro Province in eastern Papua New Guinea. In the Leiden Botanic Garden where the plant was being cultivated, it flowered for the first time and only then was it realised that this plant was actually a hitherto unknown species.

The two collectors decided to name the plant after the famous primatologist, Jane Goodall, because for many years she has been working for nature conservation and sustainable partnership between man and nature. The flowers, which last for only one day, were preserved in alcohol and housed in the collection at the Naturalis.

More than 1000 species from the Asiatic tropics, all of which closely resemble one another, have been assigned to the genus Dendrobium. The name Dendrobium comes from the Greek and means ‘living on trees’, which is suggestive of its epiphytic habit.

Ecology and habit

Dendrobium goodallianum orchid in the Leiden Botanic Garden was collected from a site of disturbed vegetation growing on the riverbank in a riparian forest in Papua New Guinea at an altitude of 450 m.

Threat

During the field collection no information was obtained as to how abundant this species was in its original habitat, therefore it is not possible to estimate either how widespread this new species is, or the level of threat it might be under.