New species of Gesneriaceae named after Funk [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 2021.

- Adapted from Nature India.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India have discovered a new species of plant in Mizoram belonging to Gesneriaceae.

A newly discovered violet is named Didymocarpus vickifunkiae after American botanist Vicki Funk. (photo by N.S. Prasanna)

The discovery, they say, is the fruit of extensive fieldwork across northeast India and rigorous sifting through plant specimens in herbariums across the world.

The new plant species sheds some light on the unique evolutionary trajectory of flora in the northeastern parts of India. Such findings, the researchers say, are important in designing conservation approaches to protect the fragile ecosystems of northeast India.

Named after the late botanist Vicki Ann Funk from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the plant (Didymocarpus vickifunkiae) is an endangered species that currently grows in three districts of Mizoram. It grows on moss-covered trees and blooms light pink flowers during the monsoons.

The author's write, "Vicki was a mentor to many tropical botanists and Vinita Gowda is one of them. Vicki was profoundly interested in studying the Indian flora, and specifically Asteraceae. In recognition of her immeasurable contribution to tropical botany, systematics, diversity in science, and women in science we honor her with the species epithet."

Didymocarpus vickifunkiae grows on moss-covered trees and blooms light pink flowers during the monsoons. (photo by N.S. Prasanna)

Historical collections and surveys indicate that this species is restricted to high elevation, wet evergreen forests of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot region. The plant and its close relatives span from the western Himalayas to Sumatra. Most of these species are endemic and require specialized habitats to survive, thus acting as an indicator of pristine habitats, the researchers report.

There are 106 currently known species of this genus, of which 26 are present in northeastern states of India.

“This discovery shows that northeast India is home to highly diverse flora because of its unique environment as part of two biodiversity hotspots — the Indo-Burma hotspot and the Eastern Himalayas,” says IISER botanist Vinita Gowda, a former post-doctoral fellow at NMNH.

The discovery was published in Systematic Botany (46: 229-234; 2021).