Despite large-scale land grabs and environmental destruction, the ecologically fragile Nelliampathy hill ranges continue to remain a veritable storehouse of biodiversity.
The latest among the discoveries from the hill region is a new plant species that hails from the family of Rubiaceae, comprising varieties such as coffee and ixora. A team of botanists from Government Victoria College here discovered the rare plant species in the Karassury region of the Nelliampathy hills, which comprise the Kollangode range of forests.
The new plant is named Oldenlandia vasudevanii and its discovery is authenticated by an article carried in the April 21 edition of PHYTOTAXA, an international journal of Taxonomy.
The plant was spotted as part of the research work initiated by M. Soumya under the supervision of the Botany Department of the college on the floristic diversity in the Kollangode range forests.
The studies were conducted between 2013 and 2016.
Botanists, including Head of Department Maya C. Nair and Assistant Professors Sojan Jose and V. Suresh, also formed part of the exploration team. “There is a high level of tourism activity in the Karassuri region where this new plant has been located. So there is every chance of completely losing this new species in the near future,” said Ms. Maya in an interaction with The Hindu .
Interestingly, the species is named after R. Vasudevan Nair, retired professor and former Head of Botany Department at the Victoria college.
“The plant is named after him as recognition of his sincere efforts in protecting the biodiversity of the whole district.
