Uttarakhand Forest Dept discovers Rare orchid species, found in India first time

The Research Wing of the Uttarakhand Forest Department discovered a new and rare species of Orchid, as per an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer.

Known as Cephalanthera erecta var. oblanceolata, it was discovered in the Chamoli district.

The species discovered was previously not reported in India. This discovery was made by a team of Range Officer Harish Negi and Junior Research Fellow Manoj Singh while exploring the Mandal area of Chamoli district.

This terrestrial orchid was found at an altitude of 1870 meters in the humus-rich Rhododendron-Oak forest.

Sanjiv Chaturvedi, IFS, also the Chief Conservator of Forest (Research), confirmed this discovery and said: "It is for the first time that Cephalanthera erecta var. oblanceolata has been reported in India and this has now been officially recognized by Botanical Survey of India (BSI) as a new edition to list of Indian flora".

Botanical Survey of India in the latest edition of its journal titled Nelumbo has confirmed the addition of Cephalanthera erecta var. oblanceolata to the list of Indian flora. As per the analysis of the Botanical Survey of India, this is an endangered species of orchid.

Last year, the same team had found a rare species of orchid Liparis Pignea, in the Chamoli district at an altitude of 3800 meters, which was sighted after a gap of 124 years in India. It was the first such reported sighting in the Western Himalayas.

Recently an Orchid Conservation Center was also set up by the Research Wing of Uttarakhand Forest Department in the Mandal area of Chamoli district where 70 different species of orchid have been conserved.

( With inputs from ANI )