New Guinea has the highest plant diversity of any island in the world, according to new study

New Guinea – home to more than 13,500 species of plants – has the mostplantdiversity of any island in the world, according to a new study.

A group of more than 90 botanists from 56 institutions in 19 countries worked with a wide array of samples. They found that the island has 13,634 species from 1,742 genera and 264 families, with New Guinea surpassing plant diversity from other islands on Earth.

Not only is New Guinea the largest tropical island in the world, but also the most tectonically complex. It supports a mosaic of ecosystems, from mangroves and lowland rainforeststo high-elevation alpine grasslands with snow-clad peaks higher than Mt. Blanc.

The latest findings puts New Guinea well ahead of biodiversity hotspot Madagascar with 16% more species.

Of the species found on New Guinea, orchidsaccounted for 20% of the flora in Papua New Guinea and 17% of Indonesian New Guinea, which…