KOHIMA — Nagaland
is native to a species of the flowering plant Rhododendron, including
Rhododendron wattii, a threatened plant, which needs urgent conservation, according
to researchers.
Two researchers, Imlitila Jing and SK Chaturvedi from the
department of Botany, Nagaland University, have raised the "urgent need to
conserve the species by protecting its natural habitat" in a paper titled
'Phenology of Rhododendron Wattii Cowan (Ericales: Ericaceae)—a threatened
plant of Nagaland, India,' which had appeared in the 'Journal of Threatened
Taxa.'
Belonging to the Ericaceae family, Rhododendron wattii Cowan
is a threatened plant from Nagaland and Manipur.
The species was first collected by Sir George Watt from the
Japfu Hill ranges during his survey (1882-1885) of Manipur and Nagaland.
In 2012-2013, a lone Rhododendron wattii tree was located in
Dzukou Valley, Nagaland, but was later felled by the locals for firewood.
Another single Rhododendron wattii tree was located in
Dzukou Valley, which now stands as the last tree in the surrounding area. The
tree is about 6 to 7.6 m in height and grows at an elevation of 2,600 m.
During the study period, no seedlings or saplings were
observed in the vicinity. It was also observed that the same branch did not
bear flowers consecutively for two years.
The researchers noted the quick disappearance of this
species from its natural habitat and attributed it to the anthropogenic
activities and natural disasters accompanied by poor regeneration of seedling
survivability and recruitment failure.
"Poor seedling survivability and recruitment failure
may be another reason why the population of R. wattii is dwindling, making it
highly threatened in its natural habitat, besides natural calamities and
anthropogenic factors,” it stated.
Of more than 1,000 species of Rhododendrons globally, 132
taxa are recorded in India, out of which 129 taxa are found in the Northeast.
