After an hour of walking, ducking and manoeuvring through bushland on Stephen Walkden-Brown's property Lomalagi, a bright-yellow cluster appears in the distance.

It is the critically endangered shrub Asterolasia rupestris , specifically the subspecies recurva .

It is thriving near Armidale on the New South Wales' Northern Tablelands, the only known place in the world where it grows.

Mr Walkden-Brown and his wife Yvonne Langenberg bought the 200-hectare property in 2017.

They had no idea they were the custodians of the critically endangered species.

Ben Vincent, a senior regional conservation officer with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, said very little was known about the shrub.

"It's probably been known about since the early 2000s when it was first found … there's really li

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