A group of scientists has discovered a new species of alpine plant in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The team of scientists belongs to three institutes of the country.
Key Points
- The new species of alpine plant discovered by the scientists belong to the family of Himalayan sunflower.
- This was informed by a member of the team of scientists, Lobsang Tashi Thungon. He is a research fellow in the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology.
- The new species is named Cremanthodium indicum.
- The plant species generally flowers from July to August and is endemic to Penga-Teng Tso Lake of Tawang district, where it was discovered.
- Two other scientists on the team are Rajeev Kumar Singh, a scientist at Botanical Survey of India (BSI), and Dipankar Borah, an associate professor of Botany at Goalpara College in Assam.
- As per International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines, the alpine plant species is designated as critically endangered.
- The species, which stands 1624 cm tall, is a perennial herb.
- Cremanthodium indica grows in boggy soil among mosses along the banks of the alpine lake.
- Tawang district holds one of the assemblages of flowering plants in the northeastern state, which attracts botanists across the world.
This discovery of Cremanthodium indica by the scientists was published as a paper in Biodiversitas: Journal of Biological Diversity.