GS PAPER II: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Context: Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal found the variant of the African violets in Mizoram.

Didymocarpus vickifunkiae

• This ‘African’ flowering plant has been recorded scientifically for the first time in India.
• The newly-described species, is currently known from only three locations near the north-eastern State’s border with Myanmar and is considered an endangered species.
• It is an epiphyte — a plant that grows on trees — and produces light pink flowers during the monsoons.
• Most of these species are narrow endemics and require specialised habitats to survive, thus acting as an indicator of pristine habitats.
• It is native to Tanzania and Kenya have been popular in the horticultural world, often used indoors in European countries.
• This discovery has shown the floral diversity of the northeast, that has a unique biogeographic placement as a part of two biodiversity hotspots — the Indo-Burma and the Eastern Himalayas.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/new-species-of-african-violet-plant-discovered-from-mizoram/article34638869.ece?homepage=true

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