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What is the news?
Researchers have discovered two new plant species from the Western Ghats regions in Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts of Kerala.
These two plant species have been named as Fimbristylis sunilii and Neanotis prabhuii.
What is Fimbristylis sunilii?
It is a perennial plant of the Cyperaceae family.
It stands 20-59 cm tall and was collected from an elevation of 1,100 metres in Western Ghats region.
It has been provisionally assessed as data deficient (DD) under the IUCN Red List categories.
What is Neanotis prabhuii?
It is a prostrate perennial herb named after K.M. Prabhukumar in recognition of his research on flowering plants of the Western Ghats.
It was discovered in the Chembra Peak grasslands of Wayanad. It hails from the family Rubiaceae and grows on high-altitude grasslands.
It grows up to 70 cm in length and is many-flowered with the petals pale pink in colour.
Source: This post is based on the article ‘Two plant species discovered in Kerala’ published in The Hindu on 3rd Jan 2021.
