Pecteilis gigantea – A victim of its own beauty

Western Ghats also known as Sahyadri mountains are recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot and a reservoir of exceptionally high levels of biological diversity and endemism. In terms of plant diversity, the Western Ghats harbours approximately 5,000 species of flowering plants, belonging to nearly 2,200 genera and 217 families; about 1,700 (35%) are endemic (Kumar et al., 2004). The Hotspot covers around 23% (43,611 km²) of the original extent of forests (1,89,611 km²) and is one of the four Biodiversity hotspots within India (Mittermeier et al., 2004). Its diverse vegetation is shaped by variations in rainfall and intricate geography, fostering a remarkable range of plant life, including a thriving orchid population. Till date, 306 orchid species have been documented in the Western Ghats (Nayar et al., 2014), with nearly one-third of them are being endemic. Western Ghats have been a focal point for taxonomic research, where ongoing explorations have led to the identification of many new species and reports (Kumar et al., 2016, Jayanthi et al., 2017).