Rare plant on the verge of extinction

March 31, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:37 am IST - Palakkad:

Dipcadi montanum, a flowering plant once found in abundance at Nelliyampathy in Palakkad district, has almost disappeared owing to unchecked granite quarrying.

Dipcadi montanum, a flowering plant once found in abundance at Nelliyampathy in Palakkad district, has almost disappeared owing to unchecked granite quarrying.

A rare flowering plant that once found in abundance on the slopes of Nelliampathy is on the verge of extinction in Kerala, largely due to unchecked granite quarrying.

Dipcadi montanum , a highly endangered plant found normally in the Mediterranean, Africa and Southwest Asia, was found across the Nelliampathy region till two decades ago. Nelliampathy was the only area in Kerala where the plant was spotted so far.

According to V. Suresh and Sajan Jose of Government Victoria College here, the last plant of Dipcadi montanum was found inside a granite quarry at Vengapara, near Seetharkund, on the slopes of Nelliampathy two weeks ago. With the increase in mercury level, that plant also disappeared. Two years ago, they, along with P.V. Madhusoodanan and Praksh Kumar of the Malabar Botanical Garden, Kozhikode, had found the plant in large numbers at Vengapara. On the second anniversary, they were able to spot only one plant. After spotting it in 2013, they had written an article in the Journal of Bombay Natural History Society . The hill ranges that form part of the southern portion of the Palakkad Gap had nine species of the Dipcadi family. One by one, all of them have fallen victim to the greed of quarry mafias.

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