SCIENTISTS from Kew Gardens have discovered 50 previously unknown plant and fungus species in the highland forests of western Cameroon.

The new species vary from tiny annual mountain pipeworts the size of a thumbnail to huge rainforest canopy trees.

Three new species of coffee, one ebony and one Busy Lizzy are amongst the species that might have economic importance in the future.

Since 1993, botanists, led by Kew's Dr Martin Cheek, have been working with over 300 Earthwatch volunteers and local plant experts exploring the remote and poorly known forests.

They have been documenting the rare and endemic plants that remain in these dwindling forest habitats, carrying out botanical inventories to provide vital data for conservation management and to identify and improve the survival rates of the numerous unique and sometimes bizarre plant species of the area.

To date, these teams have uncovered nearly half of the specimens catalogued from western Cameroon.

Dr Cheek, former senior technical adviser to the National Herbarium of Cameroon, said: "It is incredibly exciting to be able to publish such a wealth of data on plants and fungi new to science.

"Earthwatch volunteers have made it possible, providing the hands and eyes necessary to gather the vast amounts of material we need to help local conservation managers to prioritise which species most need protection.

"But many more species are still undescribed in the highlands of western Cameroon and given the current pace of habitat degradation, they may face extinction before we have even found them."

Matthew Frith, an Earthwatch volunteer, commented: "My trip to the rainforest of western Cameroon offered a real contrast to my experience of working in London's woodlands, not least in the size of the trees and the sounds of the birds. Moreover, the chance to contribute to a greater understanding of the conservation value of these forests around Bakossi, and how this may, in turn, support efforts for local people to manage their local environment was highly inspirational."