One of Florida’s rarest and most beloved swamp dwellers, the ghost orchid, could soon see increased protections under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Citing the flower’s growing risk of extinction, officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced a proposal to list the ghost orchid as an endangered species.

The decision is being hailed by experts as a lifeline for the phantom flower after decades of poaching, dwindling wetlands and habitat loss have cut its Florida population in half and plummeted its chances of survival.

Federal wildlife experts say there are fewer than 1,000 ghost orchids remaining in the United States, and less than half of those are old enough to reproduce. Globally, the ghost orchid’s population has dropped by an estimated 90% in recent decades.

“The ghost orchid is Florida’s most famous flower, and it deserves a chance to live,” said Melissa Abdo, the Sun Coast regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association.

A true child of the swamp, the ghost orchid clings high up on ancient cypress trees and pond apples, blooming in the hushed humidity of midsummer. Its white, dangling petals, seemingly aloft in midair, are the reason for its ghoulish name.

A proposed increase in ghost orchid protections comes more than three years after a coalition of environmental advocacy groups, including the parks association, the Center for Biological Diversity and The Institute for Regional Conservation, petitioned the feds to add the ghost orchid to the list of endangered species.

Jaclyn Lopez, director of the St. Petersburg-based Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at Stetson University’s College of Law, helped file the petition in 2022.

An endangered species listing imposes civil and criminal penalties under federal law for anyone who removes the flower from federal or state public lands, according to Lopez. The decision also requires federal wildlife officials to chart a course for its recovery.

“Once finalized, (the Endangered Species Act) listing will ensure a future where wild Florida is enriched and adorned by this beauty,” Lopez told the Tampa Bay Times in a statement.

The ghost orchid is found in a small sliver of Florida swamplands, including in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. Other conservation and tribal lands in Collier, Hendry and possibly Lee counties are also home to the orchid, according to the nonprofit environmental groups.

Western Cuba also has a population of ghost orchids, where they’re also considered critically threatened, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wildlife officials aren’t listing a specific critical habitat boundary for the flower, because they said it could increase the risk of poaching.

In 2023, state wildlife officials said they caught people attempting to steal a ghost orchid from public swamplands. The flower’s lore, and the thievery it draws, also inspired journalist Susan Orlean’s 1998 nonfiction bestseller, “The Orchid Thief.“

The listing proposal was formally published in the federal register Thursday, beginning a 60-day public comment period ending in early August.

The coalition of nonprofits that filed the initial petition underscored the importance of federal wildlife staff as the Trump administration has deteriorated habitat protections and laid off employees with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including in Florida.

“This is welcome news for Florida’s famously cryptic ghost orchids,” Elise Bennett, the Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote in a statement to the Times.

But “with incessant attacks on landmark environmental laws meant to stop species from going extinct, we know our job here isn’t done.”

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