Context: Recently, Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) in Kerala have rediscovered an endangered tree species 184 years after its first collection in the Western Ghats.

• A tree from the species has been identified in front of Koonayil Ayiravilli Siva temple at Paravur in Kollam district, Kerala.

Key highlights

• Madhuca diplostemon is a species of flowering plant from Sapotaceae family.
• It has been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
• The tree is the only known individual from the species.
• It is believed that the species was a highly local endemic with a few individuals in the past, which were inadvertently removed for temple expansion in recent years.
• Since the species is represented by a single mature individual in a single locality, it is assessed here as critically endangered, as per the IUCN criteria.
• This tree is about 4-metre high; its bark fissured and leaves spirally arranged and crowded towards the branch tips.