A Botanist in Nepal Posts a Prickly Blue Poppy - Observation of the Week, 2/22/22

Our Observation of the Week is this Prickly Blue Poppy (Meconopsis horridula), seen in Nepal by @suresh_ghimire.

Professor Suresh Ghimire tells me he was born in the Tarai region of Nepal, and

The western Tarai region of Nepal at that time was densely forested, impenetrable and teeming with flora and fauna; but in the1970s, the then His Majesty’s Government of Nepal implemented a resettlement program for people coming from mountains. My father was one of the employees of the program in western Tarai, where we witnessed the pristine forests, the diversity of flora and fauna, and the ways how forests were later cleared for human settlement. I was also greatly inspired by my father who was very passionate about nature, particularly interested in birds and mammals. He was also a great storyteller who wrote poems portraying love and affections about nature.

Studying biology while at university, Suresh “studied plant population ecology and ethnoecology, with a dissertation on harvesting practices and conservation ecology of Himalayan medicinal plants” for his PhD and is currently a professor at the Central Department of Botany at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. He continues to collaborate with traditional Tibetan doctors, known as amchi, and recently published a book “documenting 570 species of medicinal plants used in Tibetan medicine (or Sowa Rigpa) practiced in Nepal.”

So fittingly, the plant documented in this week’s observation is used in traditional medicine, and was seen by Suresh way back in 1999. Working as a botanist for the People and Plants Initiative in collaboration with WWF Nepal and local communities, he studied medicinal plants and traditional ecological knowledge. “Out of about 300 medicinal plant species that we documented, Meconopsis horridula (locally known as ajak tserngön) was one of the most important,” he says, “highly preferred by the amchi for treating bone disorders, fractures, and also in lung and bile disorders.” 

This species is restricted to relatively high elevation in the area, mostly over 4300 m. We had to cross high passes in order to find its better population for ecological study. I discussed with amchi Tengyal Zangpo [above, with Suresh] and village head Chupur Baiji about the possibility of their participation in the field trip. In late June 1999, with their consent, we decided to cross one of the challenging mountain passes of this area, known as ‘Kagmara La’ (5115 m). This pass lies in a traditional trade route. After three days camping in and around the pass, we came across a very intact population in a steep rocky and scree slope, just within 200 m distance from the pass. We were so happy to find a good population of Meconopsis horridula for sampling. There were also other fascinating alpine species, with high medicinal value, including Saussurea gossipiphora and Nardostachys jatamansi. However, I had already exhausted my film and battery so I could take only a few pictures of these plants. Unfortunately, after a few years, Mr. Chupur Baiji who participated in our 1999 field trip slipped over on the ice near the slope where we took this photograph and died while crossing the pass. I'd like to pay tribute to him for his great help and support.

Prickly blue poppies range from Nepal into China and Myanmar, and according to Suresh they’re “particularly common to the north of the main Himalayan range and in rain-shadow areas. There has been concern in a few places in the northern districts of Nepal where it is occasionally harvested for trade across the northern border to feed the growing Tibetan medicinal industries. However, there is a lack of study to quantify this trade and about the status of its populations across the country.”

A member of iNat since 2019, Suresh (above) tells me

I found iNaturalist to be the best platform for sharing my observations to the world and learning those of others. It makes it easy to network with experts in different fields and may provide opportunities for future collaboration. I am particularly fascinated with plant observations from the Himalayan region shared in this platform, which give me the opportunity to learn about species that I had never seen before. I am also glad to help identify those I am very familiar with. In the course of my field studies, in the central and eastern Himalayas, I have accumulated thousands of plant photographs, many of which are not yet identified. I use iNaturalist not only to share those observations but also use it for future identification.

(Some quotes lightly edited for clarity. Photo of Suresh and Tengyal Zangpo by Chupur Baiji. Photo of Suresh by Bandana Awasthi. )

- You can read Suresh’s entire book about ethnobotany in Nepal for free on Resarch Gate, and also see his other research there as well.

- Check out other beautiful specimens of the genus Meconopsis on iNat!

הועלה ב-פברואר 23, 2022 07:53 לפנה"צ על ידי tiwane