New locality records of the ‘Dancing Girl’ of Mizoram, a rare zinger species

Abstract

Mantisia spathulata (Roxb.) Schult. belonging to the family Zingiberaceae is a rare ornamental Zingiber distributed from eastern Himalaya to Myanmar. In India, this species is confined to very few localities of northeastern India. A new location for the species was discovered at Kolasib, Mizoram. The species was recorded growing at an altitude of 662m. A thorough ecological sampling was done for the population. Density of flowering individuals and non-flowering young individuals were estimated. The species has never been recorded at this altitude previously and, as per record, no ecological work has been done earlier. The average density of Mantisia spathulata within its growing patch is 18(±2) individuals per m2. A total of 120 juvenile individuals (without flowers) were recorded from a 1×1 m2 plot; indicating a very good regeneration of the species within the patch where it is growing.

Keywords

• Ecology
• density
• Mantisia spathulata
• Mizoram
• new altitudinal record, northeastern India
• regeneration
• Zingiberaceae.