'Bizarre' new Sierra Leone plant identified

A "bizarre, pillar-like" plant from Sierra Leone has been identified along with more than 100 new species of plant and fungus worldwide in the last year.

Prof Aiah Lebbie spotted the unusual specimen clinging to rocks near a waterfall in the Sewa River and sent a sample to Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where it was identified as a new species. The plant, Lebbiea Grandiflora, has been named after him.

Plants that are new to science are still being described, at a rate of about 2,000 a year.

Other new species identified by the Royal Botanic Gardens include a insect-eating pitcher plant from the Philippines, exotic orchids and climbers with untapped medicinal powers.

Many of the plants could have uses for humans, including as food and medicine.

But the botanists warn that many of their new discoveries are already under threat of extinction.