Plant Discoveries 2020:
The Botanical Survey of India (BSI), in its new publication Plant Discoveries 2020 has added 267 new taxa/ species to the country’s flora.
- Earlier, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) demanded an additional USD 200 billion fund flow to developing countries from various sources to manage nature through 2030.
- The new Discovery to the flora of India include 119 species of seed plants, 57 species of fungi, 44 species of lichens, 21 species of algae, 18 species of microbes, five species of bryophytes and three species of fern and fern allies.
- India has about 45,000 species of plants, already identified and classified, which account for about 7% of the total plant species of the world.
- About 28% of the Indian plants are endemic to the country.
- Few examples among the new discoveries are:
- Nine new species of balsams (Impatiens) and one species of wild banana (Musa pradhanii) from Darjeeling.
- One species each of wild jamun (Sygygium anamalaianum) from Coimbatore.
- Fern species (Selaginella odishana) Kandhamal in Odisha.