Crotalaria phulei:
Indian botanists recently identified a previously unknown species of flowering plant named Crotalaria phulei from forests of Nagpur.
- It is a new species of flowering plant.
- It was discovered in the Khairi-Umred forest near Nagpur, Maharashtra.
- It was named in honour of Savitribai Phule, India’s first woman teacher and one of India’s most influential social reformers.
- Belonging to the Fabaceae family, Crotalaria phulei is an undershrub that grows up to 1.5 metres in height.
- It produces pods containing seeds of a distinctive mottled creamy-olive colour, which researchers identified as unique within the genus.
- The species most closely resembles Crotalaria juncea, commonly known as sunhemp, and Crotalaria shrirangiana from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
- The species has been assigned a preliminary conservation status of Data Deficient under the IUCN criteria.
