Botanists found two brand-new plant species hiding in the Eastern Himalaya

In the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, near Vijoynagar, botanists Krishna Chowlu and Vinay Kumar Sahani of the Botanical Survey of India, with Renthlei Lalnunfeli of Madras Christian College, have described two plant species new to science. The pair — Ophiorrhiza shidiensis, named for the Lisu community's word for Gandhigram, and Ophiorrhiza pemae, with purplish flowers — were published in the journal Taiwania on October 23. The Eastern Himalaya, one of Earth's great biodiversity hotspots, is still keeping secrets.

SDG 15 · Life on land