News: Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have identified a new species of flowering plant in Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary.
About
Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary
- Location: It is situated in Warangal district of Telangana.
- It was declared a sanctuary in 1952.
- Area: Approximately 839 square kilometres
- It is home to Pakhal Lake, which was constructed in 1213 AD on the orders of King Ganapati Deva of the Kakatiya dynasty.
- Vegetation: The sanctuary is characterized by mixed deciduous forests.
- Flora: The vegetation mainly includes bamboo and teak, along with a wide variety of plant species such as Terminalia, Pterocarpus, and Mahua. It also supports numerous herbs, shrubs, and climbers.
- Fauna: Leopard, wild boar, panther, hyena, sloth bear, chital, mountain gazelle, blackbuck, crocodile, etc are found here.
- Reptiles like the python, cobra, russell’s viper, common krait, monitor lizard, Indian chameleon, and occasionally, marsh crocodiles are also found here.
About Dicliptera pakhalica
- Floral species name: Dicliptera pakhalica
- Family: Acanthaceae
- The genus Dicliptera is one of the most species-rich within the Acanthaceae family, with more than 220 species distributed across tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.
- Features: It has spiny (echinate) seeds, an obovoid-shaped fruit capsule, a stem with downward-pointing (adpressed deflexed) hairs, and the absence of glandular hairs on its fruit and floral parts.
- It flowers between November and January, with fruiting extending from December to March.
