Context

• A team of scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) has discovered a new gin berry species from the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.

About gin berry species

• The species, named  Glycosmis albicarpa with a distinct large white fruit, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats.
• The species belongs to the Orange family, Rutaceae.

  

• Many of the related plants of these taxonomic groups are being utilised for their medicinal values and food.
• Most commonly related species of these plants are collected from the wild, mainly for local use as food and medicine.
• Berries of Glycosmis species have the unique characteristic of ‘gin aroma’ and has gained in popularity as an edible fruit.
• The species is also a larval host plant for butterflies like other species of Glycosmis.
• The species, an evergreen small tree, was found as undergrowth in Tirunelveli semi-evergreen forests at the Panagudi forest section of the wildlife sanctuary as a single population that covers an area of approximately 2 sq.km.

Source: TH

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