Kalpetta, Wayanad: A rare parasitic plant with striking orange and yellow blooms, long presumed extinct, has been rediscovered in Kerala’s Wayanad district nearly 175 years after it was first recorded.

Researchers have confirmed that the species is Campbellia aurantiaca (family Orobanchaceae), originally collected and described in 1849 from Naduvattam in Tamil Nadu by Scottish botanist Robert Wight.

The rediscovery has been detailed in a paper published in Kew Bulletin, the official journal of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The plant was recently found in a forest patch less than five kilometres from Chooralmala and Mundakkai, the sites of the devastating landslides in 2024.

Although Wight had established Campbellia with C. aurantiaca as its type species, its taxonomic placement remain

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