India, July 10 -- A rare Himalayan flowering plant, Cyananthus hookeri, has been recorded in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district after 158 years, marking its first confirmed sighting in India since it was last documented in Sikkim in 1867.

The species was discovered by scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) during a field survey near Chuna Valley, close to Mago village, at an altitude of around 3,600 metres. The findings have been published in the international conservation journal Oryx.

Belonging to the Campanulaceae (bellflower) family, the purple-blue flowering plant was last recorded in India by British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1867. The latest discovery is also the first confirmed record of the species in Aruna...