India, Nov. 8 -- In a remarkable botanical breakthrough, scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered a new flowering plant species - Crassicaulis middletonii - in the evergreen forests of Arunachal Pradesh's West Siang district.

The find marks the first-ever record of the genus Crassicaulis in India, extending its known range by more than 1,200 kilometres westward from China's Yunnan province.

The discovery, published this week in the international journal Taiwania, was made by botanists Krishna Chowlu, Akshath Shenoy, and Althaf Ahamed Kabeer of BSI's Arunachal Pradesh Regional Centre in Itanagar.

"This is a significant addition to India's flora," said co-author Akshath Shenoy, the corresponding author of the p...