Photo Courtesy: northeasttoday
Itanagar: A team of researchers has rediscovered Vaccinium piliferum in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. This endangered relative of the blueberry had not been seen in the wild for 188 years. The plant was first collected in 1836 by William Griffith and last recorded in 1850 by botanists Joseph Dalton Hooker and T. Thomson.
The current discovery occurred near Vijoynagar, where scientists from the Society for Education and Environmental Development and the CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology located 16 individual plants. These specimens are scattered across a two-square-kilometer area at elevations between 1,150 and 1,280 meters along the Noa-Dihing river tributaries.
As a climbing shrub in the Ericaceae family, the species reaches heights of 4.5 meters and grows on other trees. It features pale green, bell-shaped flowers and dark purple berries with a waxy coating. The study, published in the journal Feddes Repertorium, noted new observations such as the plant's epiphytic nature and distinct reddish leaf margins.
Because the species is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, researchers have provided precise GPS locations to support conservation efforts. The findings underscore the importance of protecting the remote forests of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, where fragile habitats remain vulnerable to environmental changes.
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