The rare, leafless ‘ghost orchid’ Chamaegastrodia vaginata, last recorded in 1850, has been rediscovered in the Khasi Hills by Botanical Survey of India researchers, triggering urgent conservation concerns.
ROOPAK GOSWAMI
Shillong, Jan 20: A rare, leafless orchid species last recorded in the Khasi Hills during the British colonial era has been rediscovered in Meghalaya after a gap of 175 years, making it the oldest documented plant rediscovery in the state and offering both excitement and alarm to scientists studying Meghalaya’s fragile biodiversity.
The rediscovery of the orchid, Chamaegastrodia vaginata, was documented by Yalatoor Mahesh, Rikertre Lytan and Ramalingam Kottaimuthu of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong. The researchers encountered the species during botanical field surveys in the Khasi Hills conducted under the project Parasitic Angiosperms of Meghalaya. The findings have been published in the scientific journal Vegetos.
The orchid was rediscovered in Lawsohtun, Upper Shillong. To confirm its identity, the research team consulted historical botanical literature and examined type specimens preserved at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, ensuring that the plant matched the species first described in the 19th century.
Chamaegastrodia vaginata was originally collected in 1850 from Mamloo in the Khasi Hills by renowned botanists J.D. Hooker and Thomas Thomson. For more than a century and a half, it was never re-recorded in India, leading experts to speculate that the species may have disappeared from the country altogether.
Often referred to as a “ghost orchid”, the species is leafless and lacks chlorophyll, meaning it does not photosynthesise like most plants. Instead, it survives through a rare ecological strategy known as mycoheterotrophy, drawing nutrients from underground fungi that feed on decaying organic matter in forest soils.
This unusual lifestyle makes the orchid highly dependent on intact forest ecosystems and extremely vulnerable to disturbance. Its small size and brief flowering period also explain why it can remain unnoticed even in landscapes that have been botanically surveyed multiple times.
While the rediscovery confirms the species’ continued survival, the study paints a worrying picture of its future. Researchers recorded fewer than 25 mature individuals confined to an area of less than 20 square metres in the Khasi Hills.
Based on its tiny population size and highly restricted distribution, the orchid has been provisionally assessed as Critically Endangered in India. Meghalaya is currently the only Indian state where the species is known to survive, placing a unique conservation responsibility on the state.
The orchid was found growing at elevations between 1,500 and 1,650 metres in damp, disturbed evergreen broad-leaved forests, under the shade of tree species such as Pinus kesiya, Castanopsis, Schima wallichii and Litsea.
Researchers warn that rapid urban expansion, habitat degradation and unregulated tourism in and around Upper Shillong pose serious threats to this fragile population. Even minor changes to soil structure or canopy cover could be enough to eliminate the species locally.
Globally, Chamaegastrodia vaginata is known only from India and China, making the Khasi Hills a crucial stronghold for the orchid’s survival in the country.
“Due to the limited number of individuals in the population, this species warrants urgent conservation measures. Its future survival depends on the continued protection of its existing habitat,” the researchers said.
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