A plant with pretty white to lilac flowers spotted near paddy fields in north Kasaragod three years ago has been identified as a new species of the genus Impatiens.
Christened Impatiens thulunadensis, the species (family Balsaminaceae) is an annual herb growing 30 to 60-cm tall, and sports branched, yellowish-green stems with purple striations and white to lilac flowers.
In Malayalam, plants of the genus Impatiens are popular as ‘Kashithumba.’
A paper on the discovery by P. Biju and E.J. Josekutty of Government College, Kasaragod; V.S. Anil Kumar, associate professor, University College, Thiruvananthapuram, and S. Arya, a research scholar of the college; and Jomy Augustine, St. Thomas College, Pala; was published in the Annales Botanici Fennici, a journal published by the Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board.
The plant was found in 2019 during a floristic survey in the wetlands in and around Hosangadi, near Manjeswaram. But the genus Impatiens had numerous species and identification took time, Dr. Anil Kumar said. Of the species found in India, many are endemic to the Western Ghats, with several of them considered endangered. The name Impatiens thulunadensis is derived from ‘Tulunadu,’ a name for the region.
Three populations
The newly identified species also appears to be quite rare. So far, researchers have found only three populations with 15 to 20 mature individual plants within a 1-km area.
The paper notes that Impatiens is a diverse genus and its species have specific microhabitats. Impatiens thulunadensis resembles two other related species — Impatiens kodachadriensis and Impatiens eravikulemensis. It was established as a separate species after careful analysis of specimens preserved in various herbaria and literature on the subject, the paper said.
