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The ginger family has just welcomed six hitherto undocumented ‘dancing’ members from India. Two scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal recorded six new species in the genus Globba belonging to the ginger (Zingiberaceae) family from the Eastern Himalayas and two northeastern States. The common name for this genus is dancing girl or dancing lady ginger.
The IISER’s Vinita Gowda and Ritu Yadav described these new-to-science species in the latest edition of PhytoKeys, a peer-reviewed international botanical journal. These species are Globba corniculata, Globba paschimbengalensis, Globba polymorpha, Globba tyrnaensis, Globba janakiae, and Globba yadaviana. The first three were recorded from West Bengal’s Darjeeling district, the next two from Meghalaya, and the last from Mizoram.
A horn-shaped structure at the base of the labellum – the central part of the flower in gingers that acts as a landing platform for pollinators – gave Globba corniculata its name while Globba paschimbengalensis was named after West Bengal. Globba polymorpha derived its name from the variation in the colours of the bracteole (a secondary bract of a flower) within the species population and Globba tyrnaensis was named after Tyrna, a village in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district from where the species was found at a double-decker living root bridge. If Globba janakiae was dedicated to E.
K. Janaki Ammal, a pioneering botanist who challenged the norms of caste, gender, and race apart from opposing deforestation for development projects, Globba yadaviana recorded from Mizoram’s Mamit district honoured the late Rajesh Yadav, the father of lead author Ritu Yadav. Also read : The sidelined goddess of Botany “I named this species after him because he passed away when I was doing fieldwork and collecting it during floristic surveys in 2022,” Ms.
Yadav told The Hindu . Zingiberaceae is the largest family within the order Zingiberales comprising at least 114 genera and 4,022 species. Members of Zingiberaceae are perennial, rhizomatous herbs that usually grow in moist shady places of the tropical regions.
Species within the Globba genus are popular as ornamental plants, often known as dancing girls, weeping goldsmith, snowball, Singapore gold, white dragon, and ruby queen – all of which highlight attractive and delicate flowers. Sacred groves “The taxonomic diversity in the ginger family as we know it has increased with these discoveries highlighting the importance of documenting and preserving the flora of this biodiversity-rich region,” Ms. Gowda said.
The scientists, however, underlined the “taxonomic collection challenges” of exploring the ecologically fragile region, one of the least studied in the country for its flora, fauna, environment, and evolutionary patterns. Apart from issues of logistics and poor access to study areas, they highlighted difficulties faced due to a combination of natural disasters and political conflicts. Also read : The conservationist and tree saver “One of the forest types that is challenging to access in the northeastern States is the sacred groves,” the scientists said while acknowledging the traditional practice of local communities to conserve biodiversity by leaving a specific patch of forest untouched out of reverence for religious or cultural reasons.
Such groves cover more than 40,000 hectares of natural forest across five States in the region. “This conservation method is essential in protecting threatened flora and fauna from extinction as well as preserving socio-ecologically important species. While it is possible to access most sacred groves via research permits from the indigenous guardian communities, collecting samples within the groves is restricted.
This presents a significant challenge in identifying species from these sacred groves since voucher collections from these locations are prohibited,” they said. Published - September 08, 2024 04:39 pm IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit environmental issues / botany / Bhopal.
