Two new
species of Cycas found
7th
August:
A tree found in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden in West Bengal — the tree had, for years, been a puzzle to botanists and scientists — has revealed two new species of Cycas to the world. The species were named after scientists Paramjit Singh Channa and Dharmraj S. Mishra - Cycas dharmrajii.
Cycas are one
of the most ancient plants whose fossils date to the Jurassic period and are
often referred to as “living fossils”.
14 species
found in India.
The lone Cycas
pschannae found in the Botanic Garden may have been planted by the British.
Cycads are very slow growing trees
Unique
features
What makes the
Cycas dharmrajii distinct from other Cycas found in the country is the
well-defined 10 to 28 hook-like structures in the apex of the mega sporophyll
(sporophyll are spore-bearing leaf-like female sex organ of the plant).
The
sporophylls of Cycas pschannae are characterised by the presence of two lateral
horn-like structures.
According to
scientists, Cycas evolved on the earth as the first seeded plants and they grow
very slowly, adding only a few centimetres every year.
Nearly 65% of
Cycas are threatened but what makes the flora unique is that despite being a
contemporary of the dinosaur, the genus continues to thrive.
There are over
100 species of Cycas found across the globe.
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