A rare plant species, Mycetia malayana (Rubiaceae), has been recorded for the first time in India following a study near Kachari Waterfall in Kanchanpur sub-division of Tripura’s North District.

Sharing details Dixit Bora from the Department of Botany, Tripura University — one of the three researchers behind the finding — said the discovery happened during a recent field visit when he spotted two species of Mycetia, one of which was unfamiliar to him. “After a detailed scientific study with my co-authors, we confirmed it to be Mycetia malayana, a species never before reported from India,” he said.

Previously, the species was known from Malaya, Borneo, and Thailand, and is already extinct in Singapore. It was also recently reported from Bangladesh. In India, only eight species of Mycetia were known until now, making this the ninth. “This is the first-ever country record from the Department of Botany, Tripura University,” Bora added.

Apart from Bora, the study’s authors include Dipankar Borah of Kaliabor College, Nagaon, Assam, and Prof. Badal Kumar Datta of the Department of Botany, Tripura University.

Recalling the discovery, Bora said he had been trying to visit Kachari Waterfall since 2023 but was delayed multiple times due to connectivity issues. “On 26th May 2025, we finally reached the site. On opposite sides of the waterfall, I found Mycetia longiflora and another unknown species. Taxonomic dissection and literature review later confirmed it as M. malayana,” he said.

Bora, who has extensively surveyed Tripura’s flora over the past five years, described the find as a “dream discovery” for any field botanist.