Researchers document new species of African Violet in Mizoram

MUMBAI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal have documented a new species of plant belonging to the family of African Violets – a popular horticultural choice in herbariums and green-houses across the world – at Mizoram. The discovery has been recently documented in the peer-reviewed journal Systematic Botany (published by American Society for Plant Taxonomists), nearly four years after the specimen was first observed in the field.

The species belongs to the genus ‘Didymocarpus’, belonging to the plant family Gesneriaceae (which are more popularly known as African Violets).

“Its members are distributed from Western Himalayas to Sumatra. Most of these species are narrow endemics and require specialised habitats to survive, thus acting as an indicator of pristine habitats. There are 106 currently known species of this genus, of which 26 are present in the North-eastern states of India,” the paper’s authors said on Monday.

The newly described species has been christened ‘Didymocarpus vickifunkiae’, and named after the late Dr Vicki Ann Funk, who was a renowned botanist with USA’S Smithsonian Institute. “The species is currently known to occur only in three locations in Mizoram, and can be categorised as an endangered species based on a standardised assessment devised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature,” said Dr Vinita Gowda, associate professor, department of biological sciences, IISER.