Guwahati: Arunachal Pradesh’s remote Vijoynagar valley has yielded a significant botanical discovery — a new species of Hoya along with two major new records of the genus for India and the state.
The findings were published in Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore (Vol. 77, Issue 2, 2025) by botanists V.K. Sahani, M. Pertin, K. Chowlu and Michele Rodda.
Hoyas are mostly epiphytic climbers known for their waxy, star-shaped flowers, distributed across tropical and subtropical Asia, Australasia and the Pacific.
India is home to around 37 species, with only two additions to the country’s Hoya flora recorded in the last decade — underscoring the rarity and significance of this discovery.
It was spotted by the first author, Vinay Kumar Sahani, during a field survey in the remote valley of Changlang, Vijoynagar.
The newly described species Hoya dawodiensis — named after the locally known Dawodi area in Vijoynagar — is a delicate climber bearing glossy white, star-like blooms. It grows along streamside trees in the valley and flowers from late September to November.
Researchers have warned that the species is already Critically Endangered, with only three to four individuals found so far, and its habitat is increasingly threatened by shifting cultivation.
Vijoynagar, located in Changlang district, is India’s easternmost inhabited region — bordered on three sides by Myanmar and flanked by Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve to the west. Its isolation and rugged terrain have made it one of the country’s least explored botanical frontiers.
In addition to the new species, the study reports the first record in India of Hoya yingjiangensis — previously known only from China and Myanmar — and the first record in Arunachal Pradesh of Hoya nummularia, expanding its known range into this border landscape.
The research team has also resolved longstanding taxonomic confusion by synonymising two species under H. nummularia.
The authors acknowledged vital assistance from the Lisu (Yobin) community, especially Akhida Yobin, whose support enabled field surveys in extremely challenging terrain. They also thanked the Gorkha community.
They also expressed gratitude to SEED (Society for Education and Environmental Development), BSI (Botanical Survey of India) and the Singapore Botanic Gardens for facilitating herbarium studies and ongoing taxonomic research.
Botanists say the discoveries highlight the extraordinary but fragile plant diversity at the convergence of the Indo-Malayan and Sino-Himalayan biodiversity zones.
With so much of the region still scientifically under-explored, they argue that urgent conservation focus is needed — especially for lesser-known epiphytic species quietly vanishing in the cloud-draped forests of Arunachal Pradesh.
A fragile new flower on India’s eastern frontier has emerged — and the race to protect it has already begun.
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