For more than a century, Cyananthus hookeriexisted only in herbarium sheets and botanical records.

Then, on a windswept alpine slope near Chuna Valley in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district, a cluster of delicate purple-blue flowers changed that.

Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have rediscoveredCyananthus hookeri, a rare Himalayan flowering plant that had not been recorded in India since 1867. The discovery marks the species' first confirmed record in the country in 158 years and its first-ever documented presence in Arunachal Pradesh.

The findings have been published in the international conservation journal Oryx.

A flower lost to India's records

Cyananthus hookeribelongs to the Campanulaceae, or bellflower, family and is known for its delicate, bell-shaped purple-blue blooms.

The species was first collected in India by renowned British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker during his expedition to Sikkim in 1867.

After that, it disappeared from India's scientific records.

Although the species continued to be reported from Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and China, there was no confirmed evidence that it still survived within India's borders.

That changed during a field survey by BSI researchers Sudhansu Sekhar Dash, Subhajit Lahiri and Monalisa Das.

While surveying high-altitude meadows near Mago village in Tawang district, the team found the........

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