P Tiatemsu of Department of Botany, Fazl Ali College and VS Hareesh from KSCSTE-Malabar Botanical Garden, Calicut during one of their field trips in Nagaland. The duo along with Mamiyil Sabu from the Malabar Botanical Garden have discovered new species of the Zingiberaceae or the ginger family called Curcuma ungmensis from during a field trip in September 2023 along the roadside in Ungma Village. (Photo By Arrangement)
Morung Express News
Mokokchung | August 21
A new species of the Zingiberaceae or the ginger family, Curcuma ungmensis was discovered by Mamiyil Sabu and VS Hareesh from KSCSTE-Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences, Calicut, Kerala, and P Tiatemsu, Department of Botany, Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung, Nagaland. Curcuma ungmensis is named after Ungma village where the plant was discovered.
In an interview with The Morung Express, Tiatemsu informed that the species is not exclusive to Ungma village and that it is found in many areas in Nagaland.
The species was discovered during a field trip in September 2023 along the roadside in Ungma Village about three kilomtere from the Mokokchung Town towards Tuensang.
Curcuma ungmensis belongs to the Zingerberaceae and though it may not have commercial value, the species is a potential parent for disease and stress tolerance and can become reservoirs of genes, Tiatemsu explained. The species also has the potential to be introduced in the in gardens as an ornamental plant for ground cover after proper domestication, he added.
The article on the discovery of the new species was published in Phytotaxa, a peer-reviewed journal in botanical taxonomy, in its August 20, 2024 issue. It is mentioned in the article that the new species Curcuma ungmensis is most allied to C inodora Blatter, a species commonly distributed along the Western Ghats in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The most prominent difference between these 2 species lies in the flowers and rhizomes. The rhizome in Curcuma ungmensis is branched and much larger against small, unbranched and conical rhizome in the latter.
Tiatemsu also mentioned that after through research and examination of original descriptions of all Asian species so far known and consulting others working on the genus in China, Thailand, Myanmar and Singapore it was discovered that the distinctive features of Curcuma ungmensis does not match any previously described species, and hence they concluded that this was a new species of the genus.
“Nagaland is a harbinger of many species however we have not investigated and we are getting to know about the species through the works and publication of people from other places,” he noted.
“Our area has many valuable and potential wild species with high market value but we have not investigated and derived the sustainable approach on how to harvest and derive the economic benefit from these plants,” the FAC faculty underscored.
“Young botanists who have a solid background in taxonomy and ethnobotanical methods should be encouraged to pursue research endeavours. In addition to the government-provided entrepreneurial skills and jobs, I hope we would also take stock of our generic resources, as there is a large market for them. Young hobbyists, agriculturists, and taxonomists in particular have a wealth of opportunities,” he added.
