Manipur: New flowering plant discovered, named “Curcuma Kakchingense”

Imphal: Manipur has proved again that the state is rich in flora and fauna and one of the biodiversity hotspots as a new flowering plant species has been recently discovered. The plant which has been named and described as “Curcuma Kakchingense”, which belongs to the Angiospermic family “Zingiberaccae” that includes Curcuma, Gingers, Cardamom etc. was discovered from Kakching District.

“Nordic Journal of Botany '' one of the reputed peer reviewed journals also published a publication made by Researcher Dr L. Bidyaleima, DR Rk. Kishor and Professor GJ Sharma from the Department of Life Sciences Manipur University and Kwaklei and Khonggunmelei Orchids Private Limited.

According to Dr L. Bidyaleima, “Curcuma Kakchingense is a robust plant, as tall as eight feet, having large terminal inflorescence and bitter taste lemon yellow rhizomes which are subterranean in habitat. It has close resemblance with Curcuma longa (local name Yaingang) and Curcuma Pharayawan(a species reported from Thailand). It was found dwelling along the bank of Sekmai River of Kakching”.

She also said that as it is known only from a particular area and information regarding the distribution and number of mature individuals in the natural habitat is lacking, its conservation status remains Data Deficient (DD) under the IUCN Red List Category. “Therefore, a possible threat of extinction to the plant is yet to be accessed”, she added.

It is said that until the reporting of Curcuma Kakchingense there had been only 93 recorded Curcuma names as accepted species worldwide: of these 67 are from Thailand. For India 42 Curcuma species were recorded and the last one to be described was Curcuma Kshonapatra from Karnataka in 2016, while the last one to be described from North East India (Mizoram) was Curcuma Rubrobracteata in 2003.

The researcher also said that despite extensive diversity and distribution of Curcuma plants in NE India their inventory work is at a relatively slow pace. There could be many more undescribed plant species in the pristine forest of NE India and the chances of them getting extinct before discovery is very high.

It is known that several species of Curcuma are important for their use in cuisines, traditional medicines, spices, dyes, perfumes, cosmetics and as ornamental plants, Curcumin and several curcuminoids found in Curcuma species are nontoxic polyphenolic compounds which are having biological activities.

Besides, the essential oil of Curcuma species possesses a wide variety of pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous, hypotensive, anti-diabetic, anti-hepatotoxic, anti-diarrheal, carminative, diuretic, anti-rheumatic, hypotensive anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-viral, insecticidal etc.

“The discovery of the new species of Curcuma will definitely open up new vistas for investigation of their phytochemistry, biological activity and application in the development of new nutraceuticals or pharmaceutical novelties”, said the researcher from Manipur.