Rare Himalayan flower rediscovered in Arunachal after 158 years

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: A rare Himalayan flowering plant, Cyananthus hookeri, has been rediscovered in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district after 158 years, marking its first confirmed record in India since it was last collected in Sikkim in 1867.

The rediscovery was made by scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) during a field survey near Chuna Valley, close to Mago village in Tawang district, at an altitude of around 3,600 metres, officials at the BSI office here, informed.

The finding has been documented in the international conservation journal Oryx.

Researchers said Cyananthus hookeri, a purple-blue flowering species belonging to the bellflower family (Campanulaceae), was last recorded in India by renowned British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker in Sikkim in 1867.

The latest discovery is not only the first Indian record of the species in more than a century and a half but also its first-ever confirmed occurrence in Arunachal Pradesh.

Scientists observed fewer than 50 mature individuals of the species in India and have recommended that it be listed as Endangered nationally under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria because of its extremely restricted distribution and the continuing decline in its population.

According to the researchers, the species is found in parts of the eastern Himalayas, including Bhutan, China, Nepal and Tibet, but remains extremely rare in India.

The rediscovery is expected to support future conservation planning and help mobilise efforts to protect the fragile alpine habitats where the species survives.

The study was carried out by BSI scientists Subhajit Lahiri, Monalisa Das and Sudhansu Sekhar Dash, who located the plant growing on alpine grassy and rocky slopes during botanical exploration conducted in September last year.

The researchers found only a handful of mature and immature plants at the site, underlining the species' precarious status.

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