A Bulgarian botanist has discovered a plat that was thought extinct, reports say.

Ilian Marinov claims that he has stumbled upon a Cynoglossum germanicum, a plant that has been considered extinct for more than a hundred years, in the “Bulgarka” reserve in central Bulgaria.

The Red Book of protected plants holds only a dried Cynoglossum germanicum plant, and it is said to only appear in one area in Bulgaria. No botanist has seen a live plant like this since 1988, Marinov has told the Bulgarian National Radio.

Marinov has spent over five years working on this plant, and he had only seen dried samples with some colleagues in European countries.

The botanist still refuses to give away the secret of where he found the plant, as he plans to publish his own report on the matter before others can get to it. Still experts have confirmed that the plant is indeed of the Cynoglossum germanicum variation.