The paper deals with the discovery of a new population of threatened taxa Catamixis baccharoides Thomson. The species is first time recorded from the state of Himachal Pradesh.

The low regeneration potential is one of the main causes of the depleting population of threatened species. Phlomoides superba an endangered species is facing depletion in its natural habitats due to various causes including habitat destruction, low regeneration and exploitation. The ornamental potential of this species makes it suitable for cultivation in gardens for sake of both ex-situ conservation and beautification as well. Because of this, a suitable mass scale propagation protocol is required to prevent wild exploitation of this species for commercial use and also for its reintroduction in suitable habitats.

Background Sophora mollis Royle (family Fabaceae, subfamily-Papilionaceae) is a multipurpose legume distributed in plains and foothills of the North-West Himalaya to Nepal and is facing high risk of extinction due to habitat loss and exploitation by the local people for its fuel and fodder values. Therefore, the present study was conducted to standardize a micropropagation protocol for Sophora mollis by using shoot tip explants and to study the meiotic chromosome count in the species. Results Multiple shoots were induced in shoot tip explants of Sophora mollis in Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with different concentrations of cytokinins alone (BAP, TDZ, and Kinetin) and in combination with varying concentrations of NAA. MS medium supplemented with BAP (8.9 μM) was observed to be the optimal medium for multiple shoot induction and maximum 25.32 shoots per explant was obtained with average length of 4.5 ± 0.8 cm. In vitro developed shoots were transferred onto rooting media supplemented with different concentrations of auxin (IAA, IBA, and NAA). Maximum 86% rooting was observed in half-strength MS medium supplemented with 21.20 μM NAA with an average of 21.26 roots per culture. In vitro raised plantlets were adapted to greenhouse for better acclimatization and 60% plants were successfully transferred to the open environment. Based on the chromosome counts available from the literature and the current study, the species tend to show a basic chromosome number of x = 9. Conclusion The micropropagation protocol standardized can be helpful for the ex situ mass multiplication and germplasm conservation of the endangered species. Moreover, the ex situ conservation approach will be helpful in actively bridging the gap between ex situ and in situ approaches through the reintroduction of species in the wild. The cytological studies revealed the basic chromosome number x = 9 of the species.

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Selaginella adunca is a quite distinct and rare species of Selaginella found in Western Himalaya. This species is reported only from few populations occurring in India and Nepal. Since most of its reported habitats are under anthropogenic pressure, therefore for proper conservation of this species it is necessary to mark the suitable habitat for its conservation and reintroduction. The present study was aimed to find out the suitable habitat of this species through ecological niche modelling (ENM) technique using Maxent model. This will also help in relocating the species in other preferred habitat type and its reintroduction as well.