Itanagar, July 12 -- A team of botanists has discovered a remarkable new species of Berberis from the high-altitude forests of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
Named Berberis myriovula, the species is distinguished by an unprecedented ovule count-up to
17 in a single ovary-the highest ever recorded among the 400-500 known species of the genus globally.
The discovery was made during ongoing floristic surveys by Bipankar Hajong, a research scholar at CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat and currently Assistant Professor at BN College, Dhubri (Assam), Dr Pankaj Bharali, Scientist at CSIR-NEIST, and Dr Julian Harber, a UK-based botanist.
Berberis myriovula surpasses previously recorded ovule counts, which rarely exceed 15 in Asian species. Notably, even closely ...