New species of flora found in Jhapa during study

By Bishnu Prasad Pokharel

Damak, Oct. 17: Various new species of plants have been discovered in a detailed study of the biological diversity of the Jalthal forest known as Charkoshe Jhadi in Jhapa.

Some six new species of trees and three other small plants have been found during the study.

The discovery was made while preparing a profile of this forest after conducting a detailed study of the biological diversity of the forest in the participation of local consumers and subject experts for the past three years.

Data for the profile has been prepared after the detailed survey of the Jalthal forest, said Dinanath Sharma, a researcher of Forest Action Nepal, who is studying forest diversity.

He also informed that butterflies, mushrooms, fishes, snakes, frogs, trees, weeds and insects were surveyed and listed in the forest. It may be the first in-depth study of a forest area in Nepal and the collection of primary data at this level, he said.                               

According to Sharma, six new species of trees and three other small plants have been identified and recorded to Nepal in the forest.

He also informed that four scientific articles based on watershed forests have been published. Two more articles have been prepared. Two of the six species new to Nepal (Drypetes assamica, Harpullia arborea) found in the watershed have been recorded only recently, he said.

The forest that spreads in an area of about 6,100 hectares in the southern part of Jhapa district on the south-eastern border of Nepal is considered a fragment of the once dense and unbroken Charkoshe forest. Sharma said that 530 species of plants were found in the watershed alone.

The wetland is not only important because of the species of plants, but it is also considered to be the habitat of hundreds of species of birds and wild animals. 

Sharma said that 230 species of birds were found in the watershed. There are 28 species of mammals, 32 species of reptiles and 14 species of amphibians.

Sharma said that 43 species of fish were found in the survey conducted in the wetlands of the Jalthal area. Wildlife such as elephants, loggerhead turtles and pangolins (critically endangered) are found in the wetlands, which are on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).