hey, i can actually answer this i think! how rare for me

So nobody burst my bubble

if i remember correctly, and my memory is not very good, when I was testing things I found that having the seed did not give me credit at all for having a plant. For example, when you first start the game the game gives you a handful of seeds but your New Species Found stat is at 0.
To get credit for having a plant, you have to have the plant, not the seed. So take the 22 seeds of the plants you are missing and plant them in soil and water them.
also, even after you have the plant, it can take 5 minutes for the program to figure out you have a new plant and update the stat.
Hope that solves the problem for you

-Borg
PS I just re-read your second note about how you regrew and repollinated those plants and did not get credit. I'm at a loss.