New Begonia Species Begonia neelamorum Discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

Key facts

• A new plant species, Begonia neelamorum, was discovered in Keyi Panyor district of Arunachal Pradesh and described in the journal Taiwania, with Dipankar Borah of Kaliabor College, Nagaon, as lead author.
• The tuberous, single-leaf Begonia was found growing on steep moist walls along the Keyi River at around 1,000 metres elevation, and the type specimen was collected on May 24, 2026.
• The 10-20 cm tall plant has a single sessile light-green leaf with double-serrated margins and glandular hairs, and is most similar to Begonia prolifera but differs in stem, leaf, inflorescence and style characteristics.
• The species name honours the Neelam clan of the Nyishi tribe and Neelam village; its Nyishi vernacular name is 'Kobiirhopu Baabrai'.
• Known from a single locality with four populations across about 3 sq km, the species is provisionally assessed as Data Deficient (DD) under IUCN criteria.
• With this discovery, Begonia section Monophyllon has six species and the total number of Begonia species recorded from Northeast India has reached 54.