Fifth of plant types worldwide at risk as farms, logging expand

One in five types of plant worldwide is at risk of extinction from threats such as farming and logging that are wrecking many habitats, a first global overview of plant life said on Tuesday.

In total, 391,000 types of plants are known to science, from tiny orchids to giant sequoia trees, according to the "State of the World's Plants" written by 80 experts led by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in London.

And despite 21 percent of all the species being threatened with extinction, the report also said new plants were still being discovered, such as a 1.5 meter tall insect-eating plant on a mountaintop in Brazil in 2015.