Focus: GS-III Environment and Ecology, Prelims
Why in news?
A team of researchers rediscovered a rare and critically endangered plant species called Globba andersonii from the Sikkim Himalayas near the Teesta river valley region.
The plant, known commonly as ‘dancing ladies’ or ‘swan flowers’ was thought to have been extinct for more than 135 years.
Globba andersonii
- Globba is a genus of plants in the ginger family.
- It contains about 100 species, native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Queensland.
- Globba andersonii are characterised by white flowers, non-appendaged anthers, and a yellowish “lip”.
- Globba andersonii is Classified by IUCN as Critically endangered and “narrowly endemic” and the species is restricted mainly to Teesta River Valley region which includes the Sikkim Himalays and Darjeeling hill ranges.
- As no live collections were made for the last 136 years, it was considered as presumably extinct in the wild.
Teesta River
- Teesta River rises in the eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Bangladesh and enters the Bay of Bengal.
- It forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal.
- It joins the Jamuna River at Fulchhari in Bangladesh.
- The Teesta River originates from the Pahunri (or Teesta Kangse) glacier.
-Source: The Hindu
