Two new species of Zingiber, commonly referred to as ginger have been discovered in Nagaland. These two species are Zingiber perenense and Zingiber dimapurense.
- These Zingiber species were discovered by the scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
- Zingiber perenense has been discovered from the Peren district while Zingiber dimapurense was found in the Dimapur district of the State.
About Zingiber dimapurense
- It is taller in size, with leafy shoots measuring 90-120 cm high.
- The specimen of Zingiber dimapurense was collected in October 2016 from the Hekese forest under the Medziphema subdivision.
- Some rhizomes of this plant collected along with field data were planted in the Botanical Survey of India’s Eastern Regional Centre garden in Shillong, where itself they began flowering in June 2018.
About Zingiber perenense
- The leafy shoots of Zingiber perenense reach up to 70 cm in height.
- The type specimens of Zingiber perenense were collected in September 2017, when botanists were working on the ‘State flora of Nagaland’ in the Peren district.
About Genus Zingiber
- 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.
- Over the past few years, more than half a dozen species have been discovered from different States of northeast India only.
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