Rare Himalayan blue-bellflower rediscovered in Arunachal Pradesh after 158 years

After 158 years, the rare Himalayan flowering plant Cyananthus hookeri, locally known as pema, has been rediscovered in India. Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) located the species at an altitude of approximately 3,600 meters near Chuna Valley, close to Tawang district's Mago village in Arunachal Pradesh. This marks the first confirmed record of the plant in the country since it was last documented in Sikkim back in 1867. 

The finding has been documented in the international conservation journal Oryx.

This bellflower found in Arunachal Pradesh has a long history

Researchers said Cyananthus hookeri, a purple-blue flowering species belonging to the bellflower family (Campanulaceae), was last recorded in India by renowned British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker in Sikkim in 1867.

The latest discovery is not only the first Indian record of the species in more than a century and a half but also its first-ever confirmed occurrence in Arunachal Pradesh.

Scientists have observed that there are less than 50 mature pieces of the species in India and have recommended that it be listed as Endangered nationally under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria because of its extremely restricted distribution and the continuing decline in its population.

According to the researchers, the species is found in parts of the eastern Himalayas, including Bhutan, China, Nepal and Tibet, but remains extremely rare in India.

How will the rediscovery of Cynanthus hookeri help?

Discovered growing on alpine grassy and rocky slopes during a botanical exploration in September last year, the plant was located by BSI scientists Subhajit Lahiri, Monalisa Das, and Sudhansu Sekhar Dash. However, researchers found only a handful of mature and immature plants at the site, highlighting the species' highly precarious status. This significant rediscovery is expected to bolster future conservation planning and help mobilise critical efforts to safeguard the fragile alpine habitats where the species still survives. 

Another rare plant discovery

This particular team of BSI scientists had also rediscovered another rare flowering plant species Geum macrosepalum some two months back, in the alpine region of Arunachal Pradesh, found nearly 120 years after it was last officially recorded in India.

That species, endemic to the Eastern Himalaya and considered vulnerable, was found near the strategically important Se La Pass in western Arunachal Pradesh during an extensive botanical survey in high-altitude alpine meadows, BSI officials said.

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