\u201cIt was accidental discovery. We were\ngoing around in wild forest near this Tiding area (in Lohit district) scouting.\nSo far, this species was not found anywhere else. Locals too are not using it,\u201d\nlead researcher Mamiyil Sabu from the Department of Botany, University of\nCalicut at Kerala told India Science Wire<\/em>. \u201cThis species is restricted to a very small\narea. It is vulnerable to damage due to landslides etc.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n RIWATCH executive director Vijay Anna\nSwami said \u201cNimke is the sacred place between Tiding and Parshuram Kund on the\nbanks of Lohit river. It is the place of resting of the spirit invoked by\nnature worshipping Miju Mishmi community at the start of their rituals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In India, Amomum<\/em> – a herb of\nthe ginger family – is represented by 22 species distributed in North-East\nIndia, Southern Peninsular India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with the\nmajor centre of distribution in North-East India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmomum nimkeyense<\/em> is similar to A. subulatum<\/em>, but differs from the latter by having ovate to linear-obovate leaf lamina with equal base, the abaxial surface densely pubescent, a 8\u22129 mm long pubescent ligule, inflorescence bracts reddish towards the base and golden brown at the middle, and bracteoles pale yellowish brown with a median red band, a white-pink tinged calyx, pubescent corolla tube, obovate labellum lacking lateral staminodes, a glabrous ovary and a capsule with small wings towards the apex,\u201d researchers said while describing the taxonomy of the new find in their research paper published in journal Phytotaxa<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The habitat and ecology for Amomum\nnimkeyense<\/em> is known only from Tidding area in the Lohit river valley, on\nthe way to Hayuliang from Tezu in Lohit district. The plants grow in the moist\nsloping areas in association with other shrubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs the occurrence of this new taxon is found in highly restricted 1\u20132 sq km area, the species is likely to fall within a category of threat. Probable threat to its existence in this locality due to natural calamities and other developmental activities which may lead to loss of its natural habitat. Thus, based on the present knowledge and available data, conservation status is assessed as Data Deficient,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amomum riwatchii <\/em> was found\nin Lower Dibang Valley district, 42-km away from Roing, district headquarters,\ntowards Mayodia Pass. \u201cAmomum riwatchii<\/em> is similar to A. carnosum<\/em>, but differs\nfrom the latter in having non-stoloniferous rhizome, oblong lanceolate lamina,\n5\u22126 mm long ligule with entire apex, broadly ovate or orbicular dark red thick\nouter bract, calyx lobes with cuspidate or horned apex, oblong labellum with\nentire apex and non-winged capsule,\u201d researchers said in their paper published\nin journal Botany Letters<\/em><\/a> .<\/p>\n\n\n\n These ginger plants were found growing along the margins of temperate evergreen forest in association with bamboo and other shrubs at an altitude range from 2100 to 2560 meters. \u201cWe could not identify any serious threat on the new species, but the population might be impacted by road broadening. Based on the available data, the conservation status is assessed as Data Deficient,\u201d the paper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But why ginger? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is lot of potential for\ncommercial or medicinal use of gingers. This is one of the most economically\nimportant food item and most familiar too across too, but nobody has worked on\nthis. It is food, medicine and, also has ornamental value but for almost 125\nyears, there have been no major study on gingers,\u201d said Sabu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sabu has been exploring the north east\nIndia since 2000. He has published a number of papers in several international\njournals about Amomum from Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar Islands\n(ginger and wild bananas). It was in 1892 that British scientist J D Hooker had\ndone an extensive taxonomical study of various species in India. Since then few\nhave worked on gingers. That intrigued Sabu, who has been working on taxonomy\nof Indian zingiberaceae. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His research includes field visits, exploring wild forest areas, documenting what is the best suited climate for its growth, other favourable conditions, study of pollen grains, anatomical study, morphology, microscopic molecular study (in research lab) among many other small and big things, he said. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sabu\u2019s team included Vadakoot Sankaran Hareesh, his colleague from University of Calicut; Tatum Mibang from Department of Botany, Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh and Arup Kumar Das from Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar. RIWATCH facilitated the field work. One of its associates Sathyanarayanan Mundayoor was instrumental in suggesting the name Nimke for the ginger species found near Tiding in Lohit district. The research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). <\/p>\n\n\n\n This story was released by India Science Wires (ISW) on July 4, 2018 and carried by various news organisations on the same day and next. (All images: Credit – Ginger not only adds some spice to Indian food but is also an important medicinal plant. A Kerala botanist has discovered two new species of ginger in the biodiversity hotpsot … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[126,127,124,128,125],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-news","tag-biodiversity","tag-dst","tag-ginger","tag-medicinal-plants","tag-northeast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Amomum-riwatchii-3-e1554651505863-682x1024.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Amomum-nimkeyense-3-1024x682.jpg\")
Amomum nimkeyense<\/em> (Zingiberaceae) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/niveditakhandekar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Amomum-nimkeyense-1-1024x682.jpg\")
Lead researcher Mamiyil Sabu from the Department of Botany, University of Calicut at Kerala <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Mamiyil Sabu) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"