Disjunct distribution and new record of Euphrasia bhutanica Pugsley (Orobanchaceae) in Western Himalayas, India

The genus Euphrasia L. belongs to the family Orobanchaceae, which comprises parasitic and hemiparasitic plant species. With c. 350 species worldwide, Euphrasia is known to have a disjunct bipolar distribution across the globe in extremely geographically separated regions, with 22 species in the temperate Himalayan regions of India. The species Euphrasia bhutanica was first reported from Tawang and West Kameng districts of Arunachal Pradesh in 2018 and is now also found in the western Himalayan District of Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. After its first report from Arunachal Pradesh, the present report on the occurrence of E. bhutanica in Himachal Pradesh, confirms the disjunct distribution of the species in the two extremities of temperate Himalayan girdle in India, which is also in consonance with the generic distributional pattern of the genus Euphrasia across the globe.