LUCKNOW: The CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) launched an improvised variety of the national flower Lotus with 108 petals and named it ‘Namoh 108’ to dedicate to the country on the 77th Independence Day. The newly improvised variety is more weather resilient and can flower for 10 months, from March to December, after NBRI’s technology intervention.
The CSIR-NBRI also released apparel made from lotus fibre and a perfume developed from Lotus plants. Moreover, a chip carrying all the information about cotton cultivation was also launched and it would help further research on cotton. ‘Namoh 108’ was launched by CSIR director general (DG) N Kalaiselvi at NBRI’s week-long festival ‘One Week One Lab Programme’ started on Monday.
“Considering the religious importance of lotus and the number ‘108’, this combination gives an important identity to this variety,” said the CSIR DG. The improvised variety of the national flower has a connection with Manipur as it was brought by NBRI scientists from the northeastern state to conduct research on it. Shedding light on the course of the research, the CSIR DG said, “This is the first Lotus variety the genome of which is completely sequenced. This plant will never be extinct or endangered like many of our flowers and plants have become.”
As per Dr KJ Singh, the head researcher of the project, the improvised Namoh 108 variety is more weather resilient than other varieties of the flower. “It can flower from March to December. It is the longest flowering variety as compared to other varieties which flower for 4-5 months only,” said Dr Singh. Namoh 108, with its ancestry traced to Manipur, is adorned with large light pink petals and the flower usually touches 10 inches in diameter. CSIR-NBRI also released apparel made from lotus fibre and the perfume ‘Frotus’ developed from Lotus plants.
