Mamiyil Sabu (Dr M. Sabu) formerly Head of the Department of Botany,

University of Calicut The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a State ownership, state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to ...

and currently working as CSIR-Emeritus Scientist at Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences,

Kozhikode district, Kerala Kozhikode (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, along its southwestern Malabar Coast. The city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, is the district headquarters. The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation has a corporation li ...

, India. He worked for over 37 years on the research of

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

s, (Order

Zingiberales The Zingiberales are flowering plants forming one of four orders in the commelinids clade of monocots, together with its sister order, Commelinales. The order includes 68 genera and 2,600 species. Zingiberales are a unique though morpholog ...

) which include families such as

Cannaceae ''Canna'' or canna lily is a genus of flowering plants consisting of 10 species. It is the only genus in the family Cannaceae.The Cannaceae of the World, H. Maas-van der Kamer & P.J.M. Maas, BLUMEA 53: 247–318 All of the genus's species a ...

Marantaceae The Marantaceae are a family, the arrowroot family, or the prayer plant family, of flowering plants consisting of 31 genera and around 530 species, defining it as one of the most species-rich families in its order. Kennedy, H. (2000). “Diversif ...

(arrowroot family),

Zingiberaceae Zingiberaceae () or the ginger family is a family of flowering plants made up of about 50 genera with a total of about 1600 known species of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes distributed throughout tropical ...

(ginger family),

Heliconiaceae ''Heliconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku in Indonesi ...

Costaceae Costaceae, known as the ''Costus'' family or spiral gingers, is a family of pantropical monocots. It belongs to the order Zingiberales, which contains horticulturally and economically important plants such as the banana (Musaceae), bird-of-parad ...

Musaceae Musaceae is a family of flowering plants composed of three genera with about 91 known species, placed in the order Zingiberales. The family is native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. The plants have a large herbaceous growth habit with leaves w ...

(banana family) etc. A comprehensive work on these groups have been taken after a gap of 125 years, which resulted in the discovery of several

new species A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it diffe ...

and rediscovery of many species after 155 years. Sabu has published over 168

research papers Research paper may refer to: * Academic paper (also called ''scholarly paper''), which is in academic journals and contains original research results or reviews existing results or shows a totally new invention * Capstone project or synthesis pr ...

and 12 books as author and co-author. He and his associates have discovered over 58 new species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s and eight

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s new to science. He has contributed significantly to the study of Indian

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

by serving as Secretary and Treasurer of Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy for more than 20 years. He has been officiating as the officer-in-charge of Calicut University Botanic Garden since 1999 to 2019. He has taken up programmes for the conservation of endangered taxa through MoEF & CC Project.

Birth and early life

Sabu was born at Olavanna,

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

, and went to school in

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

. He enrolled for undergraduate studies in botany at

Farook College Farook College is a government-aided, autonomous, arts and science college located in Feroke near Kozhikode, Kerala, India. It is the largest residential post-graduate aided institution in Kerala affiliated to the University of Calicut; it wa ...

and post-graduate from Guruvayoorappan College. He secured a Ph.D. on the topic “Taxonomic and Phylogenetic studies on South Indian

” under the guidance of Prof. Jose K. Mangaly from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He presently stays in Olavanna, Calicut.

Career

Sabu has been working as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in various Sree Narayana Colleges in

for 16 years and

Calicut University The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to be set up in no ...

as Reader and Professor about 20 years. He officiated as Head of the Department of Botany,

from 2012 to 2014. Presently he is working as CSIR- Emeritus Scientist at Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences, Calicut. He has been teaching taxonomy since 1985 for UG and PG students and creating awareness of Taxonomy through organizing National and International seminars and workshops. Sabu has been working on the Taxonomy of Indian

since 1996. Taxonomic Revision of South Indian Zingiberaceae was over and a book entitled “''Zingiberaceae and Costaceae of South India'”'' 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 A gene bank is a type of biorepository that is used across the world to store the genetic material of animals, plants, and other organisms. It preserves their genetic information in the form of reproductive material like seeds, sperm, eggs, emb ...

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 Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

Cytology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

and Dermal Morphology, molecular aspects of all

members of

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. 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 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

status of all Indian gingers were assessed. The revision of Indian

and

was over. The largest germplasm of Indian

and

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 and a website '
www.gingersofindia.com
'' for the first time.

Awards and recognition

* E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award for

Plant Taxonomy Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

(2018) - instituted by

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Government of India, Indian government Ministry (government department), ministry. The ministry Portfolio (government), portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union ...

(MoEF&CC), Govt. of India. *Prof.

Panchanan Maheswari Shiva or Shiv or Sivan or Shivan is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Shiva, Sheeva, or Siva may also refer to: Religion * Shiva (Judaism), the Jewish ritual of mourning for seven ("shiva") days after the burial of an immediate relati ...

Gold Medal (2010) - instituted by

Indian Botanical Society The Indian Botanical Society (IBS) is the national learned society for botany, botanists of India. It was founded in 1920. The Society's activities include lectures, symposia, field excursions, field projects and an annual society meeting for exch ...

* Prof. V.V. Sivarajan Gold Medal (2014) – Instituted by Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy * Best Researcher Award of Calicut University –

* Fellow of

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

(FNA) * Fellow of

Indian Academy of Science Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

(FASc) * Fellow Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (FIAT) * Elected Fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

, London (2012) (FLS) * Elected as the Secretary of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (2009–2014) * Nominated as

Species Survival Commission Indian Subcontinent Plant Specialist Group member * Fellow of the

(FBS) * Fellow of Society for Plant Reproductive Biology * Executive Editor, ''Rheedea''

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 ''Zingiber sabuanum'' is a species of the ginger family that is endemic to Western Ghats in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-lar ...

'' KMP Kumar & A. Joe * '' Curculigo sabui'' S.P. Gaikwad & Gore * '' Lepidagathis sabui'' Chandore, Bourde, Madhav & S.R. Yadav.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabu, Mamiyil Living people 21st-century Indian botanists Indian taxonomists Academic staff of the University of Calicut Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences 1959 births