A team of researchers from the Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakal; Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi; and St. Joseph’s College, Kozhikode, have reported the discovery of a new species of plant from the Western Ghats.
The plant belonging to the Acanthaceae family has been named Gymnostachyum warrieranum after noted Ayurvedic physician and managing trustee of Arya Vaidya Sala, Dr. P.K.Warrier.
The finding has been published in Kew Bulletin , the official journal of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Of the 14 plants of the Gymnostachyum genus found in India, seven have been recorded in Kerala.
Described as an undershrub, the new species was collected from evergreen patches of the Aralam forests in Kannur district.
It has been classified as critically endangered in view of the fact that it has been recorded only from two different areas in the same forest. Growing up to 70 cm high, the plant is characterised by round, glabrous stems and petioles, purple with greenish yellow flowers and orbicular seeds. Flowering is from November to March. The research team comprising K.M. Prabhukumar, Indira Balachandran and K.S.Ramya from AVS, V.B. Sreekumar, Suma Arun Dev and K.J. Dantas from KFRI, and Satheesh George from St. Joseph’s College carried out molecular analysis to establish the identity of the new species.
