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Rediscovery of Hymenidium amabile (Apiaceae) in India after a century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2025

Abhijeet Das Open the ORCID record for Abhijeet Das [Opens in a new window] ,
Piyush A. Gaikwad Open the ORCID record for Piyush A. Gaikwad [Opens in a new window] ,
Tage Haniya Open the ORCID record for Tage Haniya [Opens in a new window] ,
Anand Kumar Open the ORCID record for Anand Kumar [Opens in a new window] ,
Suman Halder Open the ORCID record for Suman Halder [Opens in a new window] ,
Priyanka Bhandari Open the ORCID record for Priyanka Bhandari [Opens in a new window]  and
Manas Bhaumik Open the ORCID record for Manas Bhaumik [Opens in a new window]
Abhijeet Das
Affiliation:
Range Forest Office, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Piyush A. Gaikwad
Affiliation:
Divisional Forest Office, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Tage Haniya
Affiliation:
Range Forest Office, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Anand Kumar
Affiliation:
Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, West Bengal, India
Suman Halder*
Affiliation:
Botanical Survey of India, Arunachal Pradesh Regional Centre, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Priyanka Bhandari
Affiliation:
Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, West Bengal, India Botanical Survey of India, Industrial Section, Indian Museum, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Manas Bhaumik
Affiliation:
Botanical Survey of India, Industrial Section, Indian Museum, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

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Type
Conservation News
Information
Oryx , First View , pp. 1
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International

The genus Hymenidium Lindl. (Apiaceae) comprises 39 species distributed from Central Asia to China and the Himalayas. In India, Hymenidium species are treated under the genus Pleurospermum, with 15 species occurring in the country (six other species are now considered under different genera).

In July 2024, authors AD and TH collected an interesting plant at 4,654 m altitude, c. 1 km from Lagong Tso lake near Klemta, Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh. The plant was growing on alpine grassy and rocky slopes, with 4–5 mature and a few immature individuals. We identified the plant as Hymenidium amabile (Craib & W.W. Sm.) Pimenov & Kljuykov, characterized by hollow stems, being aromatic when crushed, pinnately compound leaves with broadly winged petioles, white petiole wings with purple veins, a terminal solitary umbel (occasionally at the upper axils), white and purple veined bracts clasping the umbel, white bracteoles with dark purple midrib, dark purple petals, lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves, five dark purple stamens and a depressed stylopodium.

Pleurospermum amabile Craib & W.W. Sm., the basionym of H. amabile, was described from Chumbi Valley, Tibet, in 1912 and occurs in Bhutan, China and India. The plant has a restricted distribution and is used in traditional medicine in Bhutan and China. It was recorded in Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) of India (Mukherjee & Constance, 1993, Oxford & IBH Publishing, New Delhi, India) based on a specimen collected by botanist G.H. Cave in Sikkim, India, possibly between 1906 and 1910, which is deposited at the Central National Herbarium, Howrah, India (CAL). We searched Indian herbaria and found three more collections of this taxon, all from Arunachal Pradesh in 2012: two from Pavo to Psonga & Teetapuri, Upper Siang district at 3,700–4,500 m (collected by M.K. Pathak and Gopal Krishna; deposited at CAL) and a third from Trek junction to Renu II, West Siang district, at 4,000 m (collected by Manas Bhaumik; deposited at ARUN). The present and previous collections of this species from Arunachal Pradesh confirm the rediscovery of the species in India after a century.

Because of its restricted distribution, use in traditional medicine, and antimicrobial, antiparasitic and immunomodulatory properties, we will assess H. amabile for the IUCN Red List.

Hymenidium amabile: (a) habit, (b-e) leaves, (f) inflorescence, (g) flower, (h) bract, (i) bracteoles, (j) stamens and (k) stylopodium.