Imphal, Feb. 19: Since time immemorial, delicate lily blossoms have heralded spring. While the white lily, a beautiful, trumpet-shaped flower, symbolises purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life - the spiritual essence of Easter - its pink counterpart, the Siroy lily, Manipur's state flower, is facing extinction.

Lilium Mackliniae, as the Siroy variety is known, is a species found only in the upper reaches of the Siroi hill ranges in the Ukhrul district at an elevation of 1,730 to 2,590 metres above sea level. Just as springtime heralds hope, the National Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development here today launched a campaign to preserve and multiply the habitat of the rare flower.

Chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh released a coffee mug with a picture of the flower to mark the launch of the campaign during the inauguration of a two-day National Bio-resources and Sustainable Development Summit. It was hosted by the institute at its complex at Takyel in Imphal West today.

"We will grow the flower in our laboratory and distribute the nurseries to other parts of the state for extensive plantation," the director of the institute, Dinabandhu Sahoo, told The Telegraph .

The flower was first discovered by botanist Frank Ward and his wife Jean Macklin in 1946 during a trip to collect botanical specimens and earned its name from hers.

"As part of the campaign, we will study the habitat, find out why it grows only in Ukhrul. We will produce nurseries of the plant through tissue culture in our laboratory that can grow in other parts of the state and distribute them to people for extensive growing," Sahoo said.

Environmentalist R.K. Ranjan Singh said the lily faces extinction due to intense tourist activities, with non-biodegradable waste and plastic being dumped at the habitat. There is also widespread plucking and uprooting of the plant.

The species is also endangered by invasion of machun, a bamboo species invading the Siroy habitat, he added, suggesting that the habitat be preserved as an "eco museum".

Ibobi Singh also released another coffee mug to mark the beginning of the institute's campaign to preserve sangai, Manipur's state animal, at its natural habitat at Loktak lake, the largest freshwater lake in the Northeast. Sangai, the world's most-threatened deer species, is surviving on Keibul Lamjao wildlife sanctuary, which is floating on Loktak lake, about 45km from here.

The bio-resources institute will also carry out studies on the habitat of the deer and find out measures to preserve the animal at its natural habitat.

Ibobi Singh also laid the foundation of a theme park at the complex of the institute.