The miraculous survival of a tiny plant in Ecuador

I had the opportunity to be part of a team that discovered Amalophyllon miraculum, a tiny iridescent plant species, in the western Andean slopes of Ecuador. This region, long thought to have lost much of its native biodiversity due to deforestation, surprised us with a new chapter in its story. The two-inch-high plant, with iridescent leaves and white ephemeral flowers, was found in an area once believed to be a barren agricultural landscape.