(Host) Botanists say they’ve found a flower in southern Vermont that they didn’t expect to be there.
They say an "arrow-leaved aster" was found in a conservation reserve in Bennington.
That type of aster is rare for New England and is much more common in the Midwest, although it’s been seen in parts of New York and Canada.
The plant was found at One World Conservation Center off of Route 7 in Bennington.
The area where it was found growing has 96 acres of trails through meadow, wetlands and woodlands.
Bob Popp is the program botanist for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. He tells the Bennington Banner there are 27 species of plants called asters in Vermont and the arrow-leaved one is by far the rarest.
Scientists think climate change may be an explanation for the plant showing up in Bennington.