Context:
Recently, a new plant species Emblica chakrabartyi has been discovered in the Edamalayar forest range of Kerala.
More on the news
- Scientists from SNM College Maliankara, Ernakulam, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, and King Fahd University, UAE have discovered this new plant species.
- Plant findings have been published in John Wiley & Sons’ International Journal, Nordic Journal of Botany, from Sweden.
- This new plant is the 16th new plant species discovered from Ernakulam district within a span of 12 years.
About the newly discovered species:
- The species belonging to the gooseberry (Phyllanthaceae) family.
- It has been named after Tapas Chakrabarty, former scientist of Botanical Survey of India (BSI), for his contribution to the study on Phyllanthaceae(family of flowering plants).
- BSI was established in 1890, to carry out the country’s taxonomic/floristic studies on wild plant resources.
- Scientists found around 55 plants in and around the Edamalayar and nearby Sholayar forest areas during an expedition of a University Grant Commission (UGC)-sponsored major research project on the flowering plants of Ernakulam district.
- 55 species of the genus Emblica have been recorded all around the world. Emblica chakrabartyi is the eleventh from India.
| Emblica Chakrabartyi Plant’s features | ||
| S.No. | Plant | Features |
| 1. | Plant Height | Approximately 2 metres. |
| 2. | Plant leaves | Large with a shiny elongated oval shape of up to 13 cm. |
| 3. | Flowering and fruiting Period | December to June |
| 4. | Fruits | Brown to black when they ripen and the seeds are black about 8-9 mm diameter. |
| 5. | Flower | Yellowish green coloured with six petals in each flower. |
National Botanical Research Institute
- Originally it was set up as the National Botanic Gardens (NBG) by the State Government of Uttar Pradesh. Later, it was taken over by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1953.
- NBG was renamed as the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in 1978 to research in the classical botanical disciplines.