21 May 2022

Jonathan Drori: saving bananas and rediscovering orchids

From Saturday Morning, 8:40 am on 21 May 2022
Jonathan Drori

Jonathan Drori Photo: supplied

Author, plant lover and former BBC documentary maker Jonathan Drori joins the show for a chat about recent botanical news. 

This week, experts from Cambridge University look set to save the humble banana from extinction after developing a technique to graft different species of the fruit together, something previously thought impossible. And a mignonette leek orchid, which was last documented in 1933, has been rediscovered in Australia - which is home to approximately 1550 species of Orchidaceae. 

 Drori is the author of Around the World in 80 Trees and Around the World in 80 Plants.

The rediscovered mignonette leek orchid aka Prasophyllum morganii

The rediscovered mignonette leek orchid aka Prasophyllum morganii Photo: Ayre et al.