Two Botany students from Annamalai University in Chidambaram, S. Akash and K. Manikandan, have discovered a new plant species, Cyphostemma annamalaii, in the southern Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. The species, found in Villupuram district, has been named after the university's founder, Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiyar, and has distinct morphology and potential medicinal properties.

The discovery was made during a climb up the 290-foot-tall Sanjeevi hill, where the students documented 287 species over a period of one year. The new species is a climber with a round, yellow fruit and white or yellow petals, and has potential uses in treating stomach ulcers and as an antidiabetic and antimicrobial agent.

According to L. Mullainathan, a professor and HOD of Botany at Annamalai University, the family Vitaceae Juss, commonly known as the grape family, comprises over 1,000 species, and Cyphostemma is the second largest genus, consisting of nearly 250 species.

The species was officially published in the journal Phytotaxa in March 2026, and the herbarium with the dried plants has been submitted to St. Joseph's College in Tiruchi and to the Botanical Survey of India in Coimbatore. The discovery will be further reviewed by experts in Vitaceae, and the university is expected to announce further research plans in the coming weeks.