Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2026 | 18(9): 29787–29790

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9789.18.9.29787-29790

#9789 | Received 26 March 2025 | Final received 23 August 2026| Finally accepted 19 September 2026

 

 

Amomum pauciflorum Baker (Zingiberaceae), an addition to the flora of Manipur, India

                                   

Lolia Hepuni 1, Adani Lokho 2  & A.A. Mao 3

 

1,2 Botany Department, Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati (A Central University), Santiniketan, West Bengal 731235, India.

3 Botanical Survey of India, Headquaters, CGO Complex, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, West Bengal 700064, India.

1 loliahepuni@gmail.com, 2 lokhoabba@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3  aamao2008@gmail.com

 

 

Editor: V. Sampath Kumar, Formerly Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore, India.          Date of publication: 26 September 2026 (online & print)

 

Citation: Hepuni, L., A. Lokho & A.A. Mao (2026). Amomum pauciflorum Baker (Zingiberaceae), an addition to the flora of Manipur, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 18(9): 29787–29790. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9789.18.9.29787-29790

  

Copyright: © Hepuni et al. 2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: None.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors are very grateful to the Department of Botany, Siksha Bhavana, Visva Bharati (A Central University), Santiniketan, for providing the necessary infrastructure to carry out the research. Also, we are thankful to Botanical Society of India (BSI) for allowing us to accessed their herbarium, library, expertise and other necessary help.

 

 

 

Manipur is a state in India with very rich flora and fauna. Geographically, it is situated between 23.80°–25.70° N and 93.50°–94.80° E and bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west, and Myanmar to the east. There are 16 districts and biogeographically, it is placed within the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, one of the world’s most biologically diverse regions. The state is very rich in floral diversity comprising of 2,796 dicotyledons and 1,232 monocotyledons with high degree of endemism consisting of 117 endemic species (Agrawala et al. 2023). There are several reports on Zingiberaceae in Manipur, Singh et al. (2012) recorded 42 species from the state; Sharma et. al. (2009) reported nine genera and 22 species and one variety; Devi et al. (2014) recorded 24 species and six genera from Imphal valley and one new species Zingiber kangleipakense (Kishor & Leong-Škorničková 2013).

During the field surveys in the year 2022–2023 in the Kamjong area at “Ningchou”, which is 85 km away from Ukhrul District, a species of Amomum was collected with flowers and detailed study was done (Image 1). The collected specimens were dried and herbarium were prepared according to Botanical Survey of India (BSI) standard way of preparing herbarium. The species was identified as Amomum pauciflorum Baker with the help of the available literature (regional flora, viz., Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Assam, and Meghalaya) and also got confirmed by consulting with V.P. Thomas (an expert on Indian Amomum). The voucher specimens are deposited in the Botanical Survey of India, Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong (ASSAM) and Botany Department, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.

The genus Amomum Roxb. is the sixth largest among the 53 genera of the family Zingiberaceae and represented by about 120 species (POWO 2026) distributed mainly in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world with its centre of diversity in the Indo-Malayan region (Sabu 2006). In India, the genus is represented by 18 species and one variety (Singh et al. 2025) and confined mostly in the northeastern and peninsular regions of the country, of which seven are considered to be endemic to eastern Himalaya (Partap et al. 2014). Amomum pauciflorum Baker (Images 2 & 3) was described on the basis of a solitary collection by J.D. Hooker (1892) from the locality “Nunklow” now “Nongkhlaw” in Khasia Hills which is part of the Meghalaya state, India. Rao & Verma (1966) reported the same species from another locality “Umsning” forest in Khasia Hills, Meghalaya. Later it is reported from different states of northeastern region such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland (Thomas & Sabu. 2023; Singh et al. 2025). Since it is not reported so far from the state Manipur, a description is made and with photographs communicated here for easy identification.

Amomum pauciflorum was synonymized with Amomum hypoleucum by Thomas & Sabu (2023) in the genus Amomum Roxb. s.l. and this was accepted by POWO. However, Singh et al. (2025) has identified as a separate species on the basis of having entire, transversely oblong anther crest which is obscurely 3-lobed with involute sides and revolute tip; bracteoles non tubular.

 

Taxonomic treatment

Amomum pauciflorum Baker in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. lndia 6: 238. 1892; A.S. Rao & D.M. Verma in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 11 (3 & 4): 245.1969; Karthik. et al., Fl. Ind. Enum. Monocotyl. 290. 1989; S.K. Singh & S.C. Srivastva, Fl. Pl. India Annot. Checklist Monocot. 118. 2020; V.P. Thomas & M. Sabu, Gen. Amomum India: 71. 2023; Singh et al, Fl. India. 27: 28. 2025.

Perennial herb; rhizome stoloniferous, bright red, long creeping, slender, scaly. Pseudostems 30–50 cm high, swollen at base, sheathed, reddish-green. Leaves 4–13 per shoot, oblong-lanceolate, 29–32 x 5–6 cm, base acute-attenuate, margins entire, apex caudate and glabrous adaxially, silvery and pubescent abaxially; petioles 1–3 cm long; ligule 0.1–0.2 cm long, bilobed at apex, membranous, pubescent. Inflorescence radical, 6–8 cm long, slender, 1–3 flowered, borne on slender or creeping runners; peduncles 3–3.5 cm long, covered with 2–3 sheaths, bearing 1–3 successively opening flowers on a very short rachis, appearing as if in a cluster; flower bearing bract lanceolate, 3–5 x 1–1.3 cm, apex acute, pinkish, membranous, prominently veined, pubescent; bracteoles 4–6 x 0.5–1.0 cm, non-tubular. Flowers white, 6–8 cm long, Calyx tubular 3–6 x 0.4–0.6 cm, 3-lobed near apex, deeply split on one side, membranous, white, tinged with pink at apices. Corolla white, tube 3–4 cm long, dorsal corolla lobe oblong, 2–3 x 1–1.2 cm, white except greenish yellow at apex, glabrous, apex obtuse; lateral lobes oblong, 3–3.6 x 1–1.2 cm white except greenish yellow at rounded apex. Labellum white, obovate, 3–4 x 2–3 cm, with a median red band towards base and yellowish towards tip, prominently veined, margin crisped flabellate, dentate; lateral staminodes a pair of subulate processes at the base of labellum, c. 0.5 cm long, pinkish-white, hairy. Filaments 1–2 x 0.2–0.3 cm red near base, white near apex, pubescent; connective puberulous; anther crest entire transversely oblong, obscurely 3-lobed, sides involute, tip revolute, 0.4–0.5 x 0.6–0.7 cm creamy-white, glabrous; anther thecae oblong, 1–2 cm long, white, puberulous. Ovary oblong, 0.4–0.5 x 0.2 cm, villous; style puberulous near apex; stigma cup-shaped, white, ciliate at mouth.

Flowering & Fruiting: May to August.

Habitat: In moist places in dense, evergreen, mixed forests.

Specimen examined: Lolia Hepuni, 11.v.2024, Manipur, Kamjong District, Ningchou, 24.8615° N, 94.5106° E, 1,542 m, Coll. No. 038 (ASSAM); Acc. No. 103685, Coll. No. 039 (Department of Botany, Visva-Bhararti).

Distribution: India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur (present report), Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland); Myanmar.

Ex situ conservation: Since the species is rare, we have collected only five live plants with rhizome, planted and conserved at Botanical Survey of India (Eastern Reginal Center), Shillong, Meghalaya.

 

 

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References

 

Agrawala, D.K. et al. (2023). In: A.A. Mao & P.K. Mukherjee (eds.). Flora of Manipur: A Pictorial Guide. Botanical Survey of India & Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, 745 pp.

Devi, N.B. et al. (2014). Ethnomedicinal Utilization of Zingiberaceae in the Valley Districts of Manipur. Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology 8(2) Ver. 4: 21–23.

Hooker, J.D. (I890–1894). Zingiberaceae. In: The Flora of British India. Vol. VI. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, 200–264 pp.

Kishor, R. & J. Leong-Škorničková (2013). Zingiber kangleipakense (Zingiberaceae): a new species from Manipur, India. Gardens Bulletin Singapore 65(1): 39–46.

Partap, U. et al. (2014). Large cardamom farming in changing climatic and socio-economic conditions in the Sikkim Himalayas. ICIMOD Working Paper 2014/2, Kathmandu, 31 pp.

POWO (2026). Plants of the World Online. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:795612-1. Accessed on 11.iv.2026.

Rao, A.S. & D.M. Verma (1966). Notes on Zingiberaceae from Assam. Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India II (3 & 4): 245–246.

Sabu, M. (2006). Zingiberaceae and Costaceae of South India. Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy, Kerala, 282 pp.

Sharma, H.M. et al. (2009). Diversity of Monocotyledonous Plants of Manipur. Advances in Plant Science Research 11(2000): 37–43.

Singh, S.J. et al. (2012). Diversity of underutilized vegetable crops species in north-east India with special reference to Manipur: a review. NeBio 3(2): 87–95.

Singh, S.K. et al. (2025). Zingiberaceae. In: Gogoi, R. et al. (eds.). Flora of India Vol. 27. Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 1–201 pp.

Thomas, V.P. & M. Sabu (2023). Genus Amomum Roxb. s.l. (Amomum Roxb. s.s., Meistera Giseke & Wurfbainia Giseke) (Zingiberaceae) in India. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun (India), 280 pp.