Summary
Primula polonensis Kingdon-Ward, a rare endemic species confined to eastern Arunachal Pradesh, India, has been rediscovered from the same region after nearly nine decades. Since its first collection, made in 1928, the species has been known only from its type specimens and assumed to be extinct. A detailed description of the species, a distribution map and colour photographs are provided here. Although this taxon has been treated as homostylous, the present study finds it to exhibit heterostyly. A recent assessment made for its threatened status suggests that the species is critically endangered (CR).
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Eastern Himalayas Office, Darjeeling and MacArthur Foundation, USA for the financial assistance. Special thanks to Prof. K. S. Bawa for his initiatives and consistent encouragement for this research work. The authors sincerely acknowledge Dr. K. N. Gandhi, Senior Nomenclatural Registrar, HUH, Cambridge, USA for his critical reading of the manuscript and useful comments which have improved the quality of the manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge the help and support of Department of Environment and Forest, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh during field survey and collections.
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Bawri, A., Gajurel, P.R. & Khan, M.L. Rediscovery of Primula polonensis . Kew Bull 70, 56 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-015-9605-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-015-9605-6