Imphal: A new fungal species, Mollisia sokpayensis, associated with the rhizome of Panax sokpayensis, a rare and valuable medicinal plant, has been discovered in the Sikkim Himalaya.

A team of microbiologists led by Manipur scientist Laishram Shantikumar Singh made the discovery. Their findings were published in the 2026 edition of the international journal Fungal Diversity, Volume 136, in a paper titled “Fungal Diversity Notes: Notes on Worldwide New Species and Records.”

The research team included Subecha Rai, Gajanan V. Mane, Rohit Sharma and Thounaojam Salvia. Singh and Salvia are both from Khangabok village in Manipur’s Thoubal district.

The fungus was isolated from a plant sample collected at Jorbotay in Uttarey, West Sikkim, at an altitude of 1,800 to 2,300 metres above sea level. The researchers named the species after its host plant to recognise their ecological relationship.

The team cultivated the fungus using Potato Dextrose Agar, a standard growth medium, and observed that it grew slowly under laboratory conditions.

At 28°C, the colonies initially appeared cottony and brown. They measured two to three centimetres after six days and grew to eight centimetres, turning blackish-brown, after two weeks.

The discovery came from a project funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, through a grant awarded to Singh under number DBT/NER/Agri/24/2013.

The project aimed to document microbial resources in the Indian Himalaya, which has been less extensively documented than the Chinese side of the mountain range.

The team said the discovery added to scientific knowledge of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot and contributed to global fungal taxonomy.

The researchers found that the fungal endophyte lived inside the tissues of the healthy host plant without causing visible disease.

The genus Panax, commonly known as ginseng, is valued in international markets for its traditional medicinal properties.

The team said the associated fungus could have potential applications in biotechnology and future drug discovery.

However, the biological properties of Mollisia sokpayensis require further study. The researchers said cultivating such endophytes could eventually reduce the need to repeatedly harvest rare medicinal plants from the wild.