A flowering plant species previously unknown to science has been discovered from the forests of Nagpur near Khairi village and named Crotalaria phulei in honour of Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule, India’s first woman teacher and social reformer. It is the first plant species in the world dedicated to her memory. The discovery was published in the internationally recognised taxonomy journal Phytotaxa, produced by Magnolia Press, New Zealand, on May 29, 2026. The species was discovered by Dr Rupali Chaudhary, Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Botany, Sant Gadge Maharaj Mahavidyalaya, Hingna; Dr Jagannath Gadpayale, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Botany, S N Mor College, Tumsar; and Dr Subhash Somkuwar, Professor and Head, Department of Botany, Dr Ambedkar College, Deekshabhoomi.

 

The researchers collected specimens near Khairi village in Nagpur district during extensive field surveys conducted between December 2024 and January 2025. Belonging to the Fabaceae family, Crotalaria phulei is an undershrub that grows up to 1.5 metres in height. Young branches are covered with silvery silky hair, while the plant bears large bright yellow flowers measuring 3.4 to 3.5 centimetres. It produces pods containing seeds of a distinctive mottled creamy-olive colour, which researchers identified as unique within the genus. The species flowers between November and January and fruits between December and January.

 

The species most closely resembles Crotalaria juncea, commonly known as sunhemp, and Crotalaria shrirangiana from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. The species has been assigned a preliminary conservation status of Data Deficient under the International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria. Voucher specimens have been deposited at the Central National Herbarium, Howrah, the Botanical Survey of India and Dr Ambedkar College, Nagpur. The discovery adds to a growing list of plant species new to science reported from the Nagpur region in recent years, including Murdannia ugemugei, Ceropegia gondwanensis, Amorphophallus shyamsalianus, Polygonum chaturbhujanum and Cleistanthus deekshabhoomiana. The authors stated that the forests of the Nagpur region represent an important centre of floristic diversity and plant endemism in central India, supporting several narrowly distributed species found nowhere else.