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Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered two new species of Zingiber, commonly referred to as ginger, from Nagaland.
Zingiber perenense:
- Zingiber perenense: It has been discovered from the Peren district of Nagaland. In this, the lip of the flower is white with purplish-red streaks throughout, and the pollen is ellipsoidal.
- Zingiber dimapurense: It was found in the Dimapur district of Nagaland. In this, the lip of the flower is white in colour, with dense dark- purplish red blotches.
- Of the two species, Zingiber dimapurense is taller in size, with leafy shoots measuring 90-120 cm high, whereas the leafy shoots of Zingiber perenense reach up to 70 cm in height.
Do you know?
- The genus Zingiber has 141 species distributed throughout Asia, Australia and the South Pacific, with its centre of diversity in Southeast Asia.
- More than 20 species have been found in northeastern India. Recent discoveries of Zingiber include Hedychium chingmeianum from Nagaland, Caulokaempferia dinabandhuensis from Manipur in 2017, and Zingiber bipinianum from Meghalaya in 2015.