Biologist and author Maruta Kusiņa has accidentally discovered a site of Moehringia lateriflora in the Lāčupīte Arboretum. The plant had been considered extinct since the creation of the Pļaviņas Reservoir in 1965. The Daugava Valley was previously the only known (and subsequently destroyed) location for the plant in Latvia, which is why the species is included in category 0 of the Latvian Red Data Book.
To confirm and verify the find, experts from the University of Latvia Botanical Garden visited the arboretum. The closest relative of Moehringia lateriflora in the Latvian flora is Moehringia trinervia. Both are small herbaceous plants of the carnation family with tiny white flowers. After examining the characteristic features of the leaves and flowers, it became clear that the rare species was indeed growing in an area of approximately 2 m2 on the edge of a forest path between the arboretum trees. We can congratulate Latvia's botanists on this excellent discovery!
Note: the photograph does not show Moehringia lateriflora