The Hindu, December 14, 2010
A recent study of the Wayanad part of the Western Ghats has once again
proved that the biodiversity of the region is still not explored fully,
with even higher plants waiting to be discovered.
In their latest trip, scientists from the M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation here identified 2,100 flowering plants, seven of them fresh
discoveries, including Impatiens veerapazhassi, Impatiens jenkurumbae,
Impatiens malabarica and Impatiens meenae.
A species of the unique high-altitude Ceropegia and a genus in the
milkweed family christened Ceropegia manohari; a wild yam named
Dioscorea longitubosa, belonging to the genus Dioscorea; and a
narrow-leaved under-shrub, called Memycylon wayanadense, belonging to
the family of Melastomataceae, are the other new discoveries.
Miliusa wayanadica and Miliusa gokhalae, belonging to the Annonaceae
family (custard apple family), and Oberonia swaminathanii of the orchid
family were discovered in an exploration last year.
Scientists Ratheesh Narayanan, P. Sujanapal and V. Balakrishnan,
assisted by five research scholars, conducted the study under the
direction of N. Anilkumar, Director of the Foundation.
“Since the start of a floristic study in 1999 and a rare, endemic and
threatened (RET) plant species study of Wayanad district five years ago,
our scientists have identified 14 new species, six of which have been
published, four accepted and the remaining are in publication,” Dr.
Anilkumar told The Hindu.
This year's discoveries come in the second phase of a project on the RET
plant species. They were financed by the Mumbai-based Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust.
Impatiens veerapazhassi was found in the Kurichiarmala range of forest.
Others of the genus Impatiens were found from the sloppy forests in the
Chembra peak in the South Wayanad forest division, Dr. Narayanan said.
The four species are of the ‘scapigerous' form, a rare group of
Impatiens that appears immediately after rain and usually thrive for
only a couple of months on dripping rocks or moss-covered tree trunks in
evergreen forests. Twenty-two such species were reported from the
Western Ghats and one from Sri Lanka, he said.
Christopher Grey Wilson, an expert from the Kew Gardens in London, had confirmed the status of the new Impatiens species.
Ceropegia manohari belongs to a rare plant group evoking scientific
curiosity, with its many members endemic to the Western Ghats and having
unusual flowers.
S.R. Yadav of the Kolhapur University, an expert in Indian species of
Ceropegia, and David J. Goyder of Kew Herbarium, an expert in world
Ceropegia, have confirmed its status.
Edible discovery
Wild yam Dioscorea longitubosa is found in the Muthanga range of forests
in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. This is extremely rare in
distribution and found only in the wet evergreen forests, normally an
unusual habitat for wild yams. The new species serves as food for the
forest-dwelling communities such as Kattunayakka. Paul Wilkin of Kew
Herbarium, an expert in world Dioscorea, has confirmed its status.
Memycylon wayanadense, a narrow-leaved species, was discovered from the
Kattimattom forest in the Vellarimala peak in the Mepadi range of
forests. This species has been accepted for publication by Rheedia, a
journal published by the India Association of Angiosperm Taxonomists.
DNA studies done at the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research
Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, revealed the taxonomic significance and
supported the morphological evidence.
“Before we started this study, it was never expected that these many
species are distributed in the Western Ghats as undiscovered, as it is
one of the best-studied floristic regions of the country,” Dr. Anilkumar
said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment