The “trà” flower found in the Cat Tien National Park in southern Vietnam in 2011 has recently been recognized as a new species which has been discovered for the first time in the world by the Swedish scientific magazine Nordic Journal of Botany.

The floral species, which has been named “Camellia longii” by the magazine, was found when a group of researchers led by Dr. Vu Ngoc Long, head of the Southern Institute of Ecology, made a trip to examine the national park’s forests which were affected by hydropower projects in Dong Nai.

Noticing the species different from floral species he had ever known, Dr. Long assumed that the species needed to be recognized as a new species and announced as well as included in the list of strictly protected species. Since then, Dr. Luu Hong Truong, vice head of the institute, had collected images and documents to make dossier for the recognition.

According to Nordic Journal of Botany, the new species are locally endemic and considered threatened by local hydropower projects that may inundate the species’ locality.