Why in News:

• A small ironwood tree that bears clumps of white flowers on its stalks, and a new species of wild fern are the latest additions to Kerala’s flora.

Background:

MEMECYLON IDUKKIANUM:

• It is found in the shola forest in Idukki’s Mathikettan Shola National Park
• The plant, that grows to the size of a small tree, can be identified apart from other Memecylon species by its pure white stalk-less flowers borne on its stalks
• Currently, the plant is known only from within the Mathikettan Shola National Park and its immediate
• Due to these potential threats as well as its rarity, species be categorised as ‘Near Threatened’ based on criteria listed in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural

MEMECYLON SPECIES:

MEDICINAL USES:

• In Ayurveda and Siddha, Used in treatment of
• skin disorders
• stomach disorders
• herpes
• chicken pox
• poly urea
• dysentery and for bacterial inflammations and infections

PTERIS SUBIRIANA:

• The wild fern Pteris subiriana, is found not just in Kerala but also Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
• These ferns which grow near waterfalls are a new species, according to their study published in the international journal Phytotaxa.
• Pteris subiriana can be distinguished by the habit of rhizome, rhizome scales and spore morphology.

LACCARIA VIOLACEOTINCTA:

• A new species of mushroom found in kerala.
• All the collections of the species were made from a freshwater swamp forest predominantly composed of species of Myristica.