New flower species spotted at Shirui Kashong range, Manipur

Our Correspondent
Imphal, August 4 (EMN): A new flower species which was spotted during an adventure trip in July last year was also spotted in other parts of Manipur’s Ukhrul district. The flower identified as a ginger family flower called Caulokaempferia secunda, according to a popular flowers website (www.flowersofindia.net), was also spotted in abundance at Shirui Kashong range under Shirui village. A wide range of wild flowers bloom at different seasons at Shirui hills. Before the Shirui Lily blooms, wild Rhododendrons bloom during the spring and lily start to bloom from mid of May and last till June while Wuyawon and Horamwon (Summer flower) bloom from mid-July till the first week of August, according to Shirui villagers. The blooming of Wuyawon and Horamwon at Shirui Kashong hill top along with white flowers (summer flower) amid the mist looks like a snow covered mountain from a distance place.Earlier the villagers’ sight Wuyawon also popularly known as Kongsangwon among the Tangkhuls at the lower mountain ridge of Shirui hills which is situated from 1700 metres to 2800 metres above sea level; they never realised the beauty and values of the flower. A peculiar type of tree also flourishes along with the Wuyawon called Nayongthing (monkey tree) because of its flexibility which attracts trekkers to hang and swing from the branches of the tree.
However, after the popularisation of the this beautiful pink colour flower – Wuyawon which blooms in abundance at Mount Hoyang Kachui located at Shingcha, 91 km north of Imphal, Shirui villagers started to realise its beauty of Kongsangwon meaning “necklace and flower” in Tangkhul dialect as they already had the state flower-Shirui lily, sources said.
The beautiful pink colour flower found in Ukhrul’s Shingcha and Shirui was identified by Durgesh Verma of Botanical Survey of India. This perennial herb with pseudostems erect was also found in eastern Himalayas, in Assam, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Indo-China region including Myanmar.