A nice itinerary of high altitudes of the Himalaya in early season. Thanks for sharing these moments with all of us here in eFI. Primulas, particularly this *P.denticulata* is one of the early flowers blooming immediately after snow melt. While in similar situations in the Himalaya I have also seen it practically emerging out of thin snow cover. Flowers are already formed in the end of last year growing season and buds unfold early to avoid competition for pollinators and space. Later in rainy season the plants are difficult to locate as they are covered by other herbage. This story brings me back to Himalayan high altitudes! Compels me to think once again "where to go this year in summers?" DSRawat Pantnagar
On Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at 9:36:08 PM UTC+5:30, Nidhan Singh wrote: > > Dear All, > > 2015 was another year which gave me an opportunity to step into > wilderness of mighty Himalayas. The programme was finalized, the team > gathered at Panipat on May 22, 2015 to start a tour the next day. The > flower hunting team was led by Dr. and Mrs. Gurcharan Singh with Dr. & Mrs. > Gurdeep Singh Virdi from Delhi, Smita Raskar from Sawantwadi, myself and > Dr. Balkar Singh from Panipat, Dr. Sunoj Kumar, Calicut, Mr. Viplav Ganger, > Mumbai, Mr. Anurag Sharma, Ms. Medha Rao and Ms. Smitha Ramesh from > Bengaluru. We had a stay for one night at Renuka Ji, a beautiful place in > foothills. The next day tour ended up in a beautiful place amidst pines and > deodars, the Mata Bhangyani Temple in Haripurdhar. We had the midway plant > exploration and refreshment halts, all thoroughly enjoyable. > > At the next stay point, Nauradhar, which formed our base camp for > the next days, Dr. Anil Thakur joined the team. From here, the trekking > towards Choordhar peak started early morning. Our senior most members > joined us for initial few hours, and started back before noon. Out of nine > members, me and Smita Ji took different path, unaware of the fact that we > won't be able to converge before 7 km. We could get together only at > Jamnala (Doosri) in the afternoon, where 7 members were waiting with > refreshment, which was much needed. Smita Ji, Aunrag, Smitha and Medha > decided to stay there for one night (which was a very wise decision > indeed), to come back the next day. > > Five of us started up trekking after 2:00 pm. This was really > tough climb but we enjoyed it all and we reached Teesri at around 5:30 pm. > We were spellbound on seeing high altitude flora especially Rhododendrons > from the corner of a sharp cliff taking a semi-circular turn after Teesri. > That was a quite a different world there, alpine floral elements started > appearing. The path we took was a longer route, but supposed to have a > gradual climb, instead of sharp edges from the other way. The things were > not going to be as smooth as we assumed at first. > The problems started soon after we reached a point, lying ahead was > a vast glacier, which we had not expected. It was long and slippery, and > left us undecided for a while, what to do? The first glacier was crossed, > with fear and terror (thanks to bamboo sticks in hand), we had a sigh of > relief, but that was not the last hurdle. Many small glaciers came our > way, there was trouble in breathing, a really serious cause of concern. > Darkness aggravated, skidding could happen, glaciers started reappearing > more vigorously. > Air was getting diluted of oxygen, daylight was almost gone, > energy getting down, and still no sign of our destination anywhere around. > I was (may be all of us) repenting on the decision to complete the trek in > one day, we could have stayed at Teesri. To further worsen the things, rain > and snow started falling, thunder and lightening joined, it got absolutely > dark, still no sign of the place we were supposed to reach. We tried to > console each other regarding the distance remaining to be covered, though > no one was certain. We could not afford to loose hope and kept on leaping > through snow, mud, darkness and silence. Finally we saw a few people with > torches way up, assuring us that we have not lost our way. Ultimately, we > reached the place, shivering and wet, tired and trembling with hunger. We > got the meals as per tradition of the place, and a very good stay (for > which I am grateful to Sh. Babu Ram, Manager, Sewa Samiti, Choordhar). > > Now I come to my Flora Picture of the year-2015. In the morning, > when we started back trek, through the temple, I saw a strange yellow > coloured flower (as it appeared from distance). I got near and saw this in > curiosity. This took me quite a while, and observing few more individuals > in advanced stages, to understand that this is the "Ice Breaking Primrose" > which pierces through the snow. I thought this is apt picture for me to > share as FLORA PICTURE of 2015. > > > > -- > Regards, > > Dr. Nidhan Singh > Assistant Professor > Department of Botany > I.B. (PG) College > Panipat-132103 Haryana > Ph.: 09416371227 > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
