Published by Botanical Survey of India
Kolkata, Sep 25: Scientists of Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and other organisations have discovered 1 family, 5 genera, 249 species, and 12 infraspecific (occurring within a species) classification of plants in Indian flora (includes all varieties of plants in a particular region). These discoveries were declared in BSI’s report released by the environment ministry. Of these 202 species are new to science and 65 are new distribution records from India. It includes 119 angiosperms (flowering plants with seeds), 3 pteridophytes (vascular plants that disperse through spores, e.g. ferns), 5 bryophytes (non-vascular land plants, e.g. mosses), 44 lichens (a fungus and an alga living in partnership), 57 fungi, 21 algae, and 18 microbes. With this, the total classification of Indian flora becomes 54,733.
In the discoveries in 2020, nine new species of balsams (Impatiens), one species of wild banana (Musa pradhanii), one species of wild Jamun (Sygygium anamalaianum), fern species (Selaginella odishana) are few examples. A plant that has been recorded for the first time in India is, Apocpis collinus Balansa found in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, earlier known only from Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The Western Ghats and the North East regions contributed 48% of the total discoveries. Maximum discoveries were made from Kerala (more than 40), followed by Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh.
