Scientists clone rare Queen of Sheba orchid, first lab-grown flower blooms

Conservation biologists at Kings Park's Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority have achieved a breakthrough for the Queen of Sheba orchid, one of Western Australia's most endangered plants with fewer than 30 individuals remaining in the wild. Using somatic embryogenesis, they transformed a tiny seed into more than a thousand cloned seedlings, a process senior plant breeder Digby Growns described as akin to “the birth of my first child.”

The first laboratory-grown orchid flowered within three years, a timeline roughly twice as fast as conventional methods, and produced tubers ten times larger than those from standard propagation. Orchid researcher Belinda Davis highlighted the robustness of these clones, which could better withstand reintroduction. Before field releases, the team must still study the orchid's specific fungal partners and pollinators to ensure successful establishment. The cloning protocol is slated for use on other threatened orchid species in the authority's broader conservation program.