M. Sabu

Mamiyil Sabu (Dr M. Sabu ) formerly Head of the Department of Botany, University of Calicut and currently working as CSIR-Emeritus Scientist at Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences, Kozhikode district, Kerala, India. He worked for over 37 years on the research of gingers,

Sabu has published over 168 research papers and 12 books as author and co-author. He and his associates have discovered over 58 new species of flowering plants and eight cultivars new to science. ” was released at Singapore Botanical Garden in July 2006. A germplasm of over 190 species and 2000 accessions of live plants in the ginger gene bank of Calicut University Botanical Garden is established. This forms the largest collection of Indigenous gingers in India. Exotic and ornamental gingers from China, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia are also grown. He has over 160 papers in National and International Journals and five books to his credit. Apart from the Taxonomy, he has also dealt with aspects of Palynology, Cytology and Dermal Morphology, molecular aspects of all Zingiberaceae members of South India. Dr. M. Sabu described 65 taxa new to science and reported five new generic records, six new combinations, 15 new species records for India, nine for South India, and 16 name changes/synonyms. Rediscovery of 11 taxa after 57 to 155 years, which includes some supposed to be extinct taxa. The IUCN status of all Indian gingers were assessed. The revision of Indian Musaceae and Marantaceae was over. The largest germplasm of Indian Musaceae and Marantaceae is established in the Botanical Garden of Calicut University which contain more than 30 taxa and over 200 accessions. Musaceae Revision is published with four new taxa and several new records to India and rediscoveries after a lapse of 50–100 years. He has also prepared a database of Indian Zingiberaceae, Musaceae and Marantaceae.

Awards and recognition E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award for Plant Taxonomy (2018) - instituted by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Govt. of India. Prof. Panchanan Maheswari Gold Medal (2010) - instituted by Indian Botanical Society Prof. V.V. Sivarajan Gold Medal (2014) – Instituted by Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy Fellow of Indian Academy of Science (FASc) Fellow Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (FIAT)

Plants named in honor of Dr Sabu

Five plants have been named after Sabu in recognition of his contributions in the field of Taxonomy.

Amomum sabuanum V.P. Thomas, Nissar & U. Gupta Musa sabuana K. Prasad, Bheem & BRP Rao Zingiber sabuanum KMP Kumar & A. Joe Curculigo sabui S.P. Gaikwad & Gore Lepidagathis sabui Chandore, Bourde, Madhav & S.R. Yadav.