Plantae, Magnoliophyta, Gentianales, Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae, Ceropegia hookeri: distribution and rediscovery in eastern Himalayas, Sikkim, India

The Eastern Himalayan region is home to several rare flora (Rao 1994). Floristically the region acts as a gateway for the migration of flora from the adjacent countries such as China, Japan, Nepal and Bhutan. The Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (KBR) in Sikkim is an important phytodiversity centre in Eastern Himalayas due to its unique geographical position. During the floristic exploration of KBR, Ceropegia hookeri (Figure 1) was collected. The genus Ceropegia L. comprises 200 species distributed from southern Africa to Australia (Bruyns 2003). In India, the genus is represented by 48 species and three varieties (Malpure et al. 2006). From north-eastern India including the eastern Himalayas, nine species have so far been reported (Jagtap and Singh 1999).