Botany students have discovered an Orchid species earlier believed to be found only in India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Phreatia elegan commonly known as Elegant Phreatia was found growing 1,600 metres above sea level inside Panchase Protected Forest which is spread over Kaski, Parbat and Syangja districts.

The discovery was made by Prabin Bhandari, Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti and Krishna Kumar Shrestha, the graduate students from the Department of Botany at the Tribhuvan University, who were conducting their thesis research in Panchase area.

The finding of the orchid species have been included in the Journal Pleione that publishes works on the vascular plants of the Himalayan region from India. The addition of the new species puts the number of orchid species found in Nepal at 452. In Panchase forest alone, researchers have discovered 124 new species of orchids so far.

Bhandari said the environment and biodiversity of Nepal makes it a potential site for exploration of news species of plants, including orchids. He said there should be a continuous research and exploration to find new plant species.