KOCHI: A new plant species was discovered in the Idathattu and Kannadipara areas under the Mankulam forest range in Idukki district.
The plant, which has been named Impatiens Mankulamensis, was first discovered by divisional forest officer B Nagaraj in July, 2015, near Idathattu. He identified the plant as belonging to the ‘impatiens’ category and as a new species with the help of K M Prabhukumar, a scientist at Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala.
It was spotted again at Kannadipara in September, 2016, and confirmed to be a species belonging to the Impatiens category of Balsaminaceae family, unknown to the world so far. The research paper in this regard has been published in Phytotaxa, a peer-reviewed, international journal.
Impatiens Mankulamensis grows in a limited moist area between rocks. The plant blooms between July and October. Its flowers are white with a shade of pink. Since only 100-150 plants have been discovered so far, Impatiens Mankulamensis has been placed under the ‘critically endangered’ category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.