New Species of Plant Discovered from Alpine Region of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh: A new species of plant known as Cremanthodium indicum was recently discovered in the alpine region of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. The discovery of the species was published in the international peer-reviewed publication Biodiversitas: Journal of Biological Diversity.

Dr Lobsang Tashi Thungon a research fellow from the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Dipankar Borah, an associate professor of Botany at Goalpara College in Assam and Dr Rajeev Kumar Singh, a scientist at Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has been credited with the discovery of the new species as per the journal.

As per the research paper, the new species of Cremanthodium was collected from Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern Himalayan state of India during plant collection trip in the year 2017 and 2020. This species was growing along the banks of Penga-Teng Tso Lake, Tawang Districtat 4100 m altitude.

Reports quoting Thungon says that the new species belongs to the family of Himalayan sunflower. The plant species, which generally flowers from July to August, is endemic to Penga-Teng Tso Lake of Tawang district, where it was discovered. However, the species is assessed as critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN guidelines.

Tawang district holds one of the assemblages of flowering plants in the northeastern state, which attracts botanists across the world.

It needs to be mentioned here that Arunachal Pradesh has also been termed as 'Orchid Paradise of India' because of the maximum concentration of orchid species (about 40% of the country) in the State.

In recent times the orchids have been depleting owing to which an MoU was signed last year between the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and IUCN to initiate a project on Red Listing of the orchids in the State.

As per the official website of IUCN, it will be supporting the State of Arunachal Pradesh in assessing their unique and diverse Orchid species with an initial short-term objective of completing Red List assessments for all orchids in the State of Arunachal Pradesh (over 600 species). The results of these assessments will be showcased at the national and global events such as the Conference of the Parties 15 of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as well as IUCN's World Conservation Congress 2020, rescheduled in 2021, in Marseille, France due to COVID-19.

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