Teen discovers new flower

2008-07-06 13:54

Singapore - A patient teenager has discovered a new breed of a tropical flower after waiting seven years to see it bloom, The Sunday Times said.

Ryan Su, now a 19-year-old national servicemen, has reportedly become the youngest person in the world to discover a new breed of the heliconia flower.

He has collected 30 varieties of the popular tropical flower in his garden in Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

He told the newspaper he almost threw the plant out last year, after waiting in vain for seven years to see it bloom.

Su was surprised one day to find bright yellow and orange flowers peeping out from the pot in his garden.

"I was actually upset that the flowers were not green," Su was quoted as saying.

He sent pictures to the Heliconia Society International in South America, which confirmed the flower was a new variety and registered it.

Heliconias cannot be artificially bred, the report said. New varieties are either natural hybrids, new species or stable mutations, as in the case of Su's heliconia.

Su said his passion for plants started at the age of six when his mother brought him a cactus when he was sick with the chicken pox. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA