Memoirs of an orchid hunter – Page 4 – Naresh Swami | The Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya

Epipactis helleborine subsp. helleborine.

The Plant

Terrestrial. A single stemmed plant of the height between 35 to 50 cm. Roots many, stout and 4 to 5 cm long with a very small sheath at the base of the stem. Stem cylindrical, puberulous. Leaves 4 to 6, unequal, broadly elliptic to sub-orbicular, sessile, many nerved, sheathed, 2 to 5 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm in width at its wider portion. Flower many in a peduncle.

The Flower

Flowers large 1.5 to 2 cm across. Sepals unequal, broadly lanceolate, 3 to 5 veined with the mid one prominent; dorsal sepal smaller than the lateral, arching, acuminate, keeled; lateral sepals larger than the dorsal, spreading, acute, its tip pointing diagonally downwards. Petals slightly longer than the dorsal sepal but shorter than the lateral sepals; lanceolate, acuminate, irregularly veined, diagonally erect and slightly arching forward. Lip as long as the petals; its epichilec ordate, bend downwards with irregular margins and two globose calli at its base; hypochile globularly saccate. Flowers with unusually broad stigma. Floral bract long and narrow, diminishing in length upwards, 2 to 5 cm long, lanceolate, veined, arising from the lower side of the stalked and arching ovary.

Sepals and petals green. The outer portion of the hypocile of the lip is green with pale purple tinge throughout out, the two calli on the base of the epichile are purplish green. The inside of the saccate hypocile is dark purple. Column greenish yellow with orange red margins. Floral bract green.

Epipactis helleborine subsp. helleborine.

The Pursuit

A species never documented from the region after its mention in the monumental work of Sir. George King and Robert Pantling. As usual, many authors wrote about this species merely copying the text from the monumental work. Hence, the description of this species remained almost unchanged for more than a century.

During the inception of my work I had decided to put more time and energy in finding all those species, which were not documented in the last century. This species was at the top of that list. The only reference was that it was reported growing at 11,000 ft and flowers in the month of July. The month of July I used to concentrate on alpine hills and I was looking for this species there. Even after surveying huge areas in the month of June and July there was no trace of this species. Those days are unpredictable in the hills with heavy monsoon, flash floods and roadblocks. To make movement more difficult, a glacier burst washed away a bridge of the main road to the alpine region and all vehicular traffic came to a standstill. As the road is of high strategic value, the army’s engineering wing started rebuilding at a quick pace. As they were transporting bridge building equipment in large trucks, every day I found a little place for myself on the steel girders on those military trucks!!! The location of my search area, a towering mountain, was between 11,000 to 13,000 ft and was more than 17 kilometers away from that damaged bridge. As there were no vehicles plying on the other side of the damaged bridge I regularly walked than stretch. Every day I had to climb up the mountain, do my survey and return to the damaged bridge before the last vehicle with personnel returns to their base. Hence, there was no room for any miscalculations; every step had to be timed perfectly. To the surprise of all we got a few sunny days in the hills that week. I was on a routine trip and by afternoon I was descending the hills. I took a short cut through thickets of Rhododendrons. Those Rhododendrons grow so close by; walking through them was very hard. However, to save some time and distance I took that hard path. While negotiating the Rhododendron thickets I found a small plant of this species with few leaves. On close observation I understood that the plant was a mature one and its upper flowering portion had broken off. As I haven’t seen this species earlier or never got a chance to see a photograph of it I was not able to identify it. Expecting more of the species I searched under those Rhododendrons thickets. Time was ticking and I knew I will be missing the vehicle for my return journey. But, the eagerness in me made me continue my search. Those thickets never allowed easy movement. Finally, after around 40 minutes of search I found three plants of this species. Flowers in two of them had withered and one with almost fresh flowers. Finally, after more than a century the species stands in front of an explorer. It is a once in a life time moment and I have no words to express my joy. In the thrill of that moment I had forgotten about the vehicle or how I would reach my base camp. My only thoughts were to document those flowers to the best of my ability. I was there till sunset studying and documenting the plant. I walked back under the shadow of the setting sun and through the darkness of the night for 36 kilometers and reached my base camp at 2 minutes passed midnight.

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Epipactis latifolia All., Page no 271/272.

The Plant

The Flower

The Pursuit

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Epipactis latifolia All., Page no 271/272.

Goodyera foliosa (Lindl.) Benth. ex C.B.Clarke.

The Plant

Terrestrial. A small of the height between 7 to 10 cm. Stem cylindrical, fleshy, decumbent at the base. Leaves green, 4 to 7, lanceolate, petioled with a narrow sheath, three nerved bordered with white, with the mid one wider than the other two, margins of the leaf undulate as well as minutely serulate to its apex. Flower many, arranged closely in a short peduncle.

The Flower

Flower 1 cm across. Sepals unequal, ovate, acute, connate at the base; dorsal smaller than the lateral, diagonally erect and connivent with the petals; lateral diagonally spreading with its apex curved behind and margins curved. Petals rhombic, smaller than the petals. Lip oblong with broad base, long, decurved, channeled at its middle. Column and rostellum long. Floral bracts long, diminishing in length to its apex, lanceolate, erect.

Sepals and petals pale rose flushed with white. Petals more to the whitish base. Lip pale rose turning whitish rose to its apex. Column bright yellow. Floral bracts pale green flushed with pale brown at its base.

Goodyera foliosa, (Lindl.) Benth. ex C.B.Clarke. — Goodyera foliosa (Lindl.) Benth. ex C.B.Clarke.

The Pursuit

I found this species when they were at an early stage of growth, from deep inside a forested area in the semi alpine zone during a routine survey. There were more than 200 plants of this species in a small area under thick forest cover. The entire forest was covered with huge tall trees, but the forest floor was relatively open without any undergrowth. Hence, I was able to count the plants, but gave up when the count reached 200. From close observation it was clear it would take another 30 to 45 days for them to be in flower. But, I made it a point to visit the location once in a week. During my second visit in two weeks, my assistant found one plant fully grown and with buds around 15 m from the main cluster. The buds were about to open and we decided to make a visit in the next five days. The scheduled 5^th day was washed out due to rains and on the next day I was forced to trek to the location all alone. While I was approaching those small plants, I was surprised to notice several ripped tree leaves spread all over the forest floor. My curiosity to locate a species in bloom made me walk ahead. As I was sitting next to the plant and noting down its characteristics I felt some movement over my shoulders. I got really scared and while looking back I found one white-chested bear (Ursus thibetanus) sitting on top of a tree behind me. That was the first time I had spotted a white-chested bear from that region. The bear seemed so scared it was clinging to the tree. As a rule, I immediately packed up my camera bag and moved out of that area without disturbing the bear.

After that, I made six more visits to that location to document the species. During each visit I hoped I would crisscross the bear again but it never reappeared again.

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Goodyera foliosa Benth. ex Hook., Page no 281 – 282.

Galeola falconeri Hook.f.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Rhizome long, stout and branching clothed with many triangular scales all along its length. Stem thick, 2 to 4 cm in cross section, 3.5 to 5.6 ft in height, ribbed at its lower half, upper half almost cylindric. Leaf less. Flowers in pendulous panicles, arising at intervals of about 10 to 15 cm apart; with a broad lanceolate bract at its base.

The Flower

Flower large, 3 to 5 cm across; spongy, laxly arranged in 4 to 6 cm long narrow stalks, pendulous. Sepals un-equal, ovate to lanceolate; the dorsal narrow than the lateral, arching; the lateral keeled with apex edges curved up, spreading, outer surface rough. Petals shorter than the sepals, oblong, one veined, margins undulate, spreading. Lip single lobed, concave when spread out, wide mouthed, sessile, and hairy inside. Floral bract small, 1 to 1.5 cm long, lanceolate, acuminate, veined, horizontal, arising from the lower side of the flower stalk.

The inside of the sepals bright yellow and its outer surface pale brown. Petals and lip bright yellow, with the inside of the latter tinged with orange. Floral bract and the bracts of the panicles are with shades of dark brown. The stem pale brown throughout.

The Pursuit

In the span of three years I located this interesting plant from four different locations from the whole of Sikkim – Himalayas. According to me its special characteristics of being leafless and of immense height helped the species to survive in its natural habitats. Due to these special characteristics the local population was not aware that this plant is an orchid, thus escaping being collected for commercial purpose.

King and Pantling described this plant as tall as 10 feet. I was searching for this species on several areas and had shown many villagers its drawings to get some clue on its possible populations. In 2012, in the month of July, one villager took to me to a forested area near to his home where he found 4 young plants of this species. The plants were hardly 1.5 ft tall and at that time it was not possible to identify it as this species or its close relative, Galeola lindleyana Reichb. It took another 5 weeks and several visits to see the first flower in bloom. By that time all the plants had attained a height between 4′ 8″ to 5′ 10″. As I had studied this plant and its ally very much from the referral book, with its flower I identified the species on the first sight. However, I was not satisfied with the flowers in blooms and wanted to revisit the plant in a week to find some more fresh flowers and document. Next, week I went to the location again to see perfect flowers of my choice and produced several wonderful photographs.

Later on in the same week I got information from another village about its presence and I visited the location to find two more plants, which were already in flower by that time.

In the monumental publication of King and Pantling, the authors described this species as growing between 5000 to 7000 ft. My first experience with the plant was from 4800 ft, the second was from 5400 ft. The third relatively much higher at 8800 ft. The third find of the plant from 8800 ft was also surprising to many researchers as that altitude almost touched the border limit of the semi alpine zone. However, in the year 2013, I had the most interesting discovery of this species from a staggering altitude of 10, 150 ft. That record height had brought more attention as well as rethinking on of all research works and researchers working on climate change and its influence on plants from the alpine zone. Till date there were no records available of any orchid species believed to be from lower altitudes climbing above 10,000 ft.

As the record altitude, the discovery of the plants was also breathtaking. I was working in the alpine region in the monsoon months. The region received heavy rains, which triggered heavy landslides and roadblocks. The roadblocks cut off the upper regions from the main land. The Government machinery started evacuating people fearing more rains. We were all scuttled in overcrowded helicopters and flown out of the danger zone. Due to low rain clouds, the helicopter pilots took the aerial route over river valleys. As we were flying over a mountain I spotted 5 plants of this species on the riverside slope of that mountain. We almost flew over those plants and my “god gifted and precise” eyes helped to identify the species even from that immense height. Later on, in the evening while noting down the events of the day I stuck to its staggering altitude. From the flight data records and consultation with the pilots I found that place was around 10,000 ft or even more. That interesting find made me curious and started making plans to go to that location. As heavy rains ransacked the entire region and the only road blocked with heavy landslides, the mission turned out to be almost impossible.

I am always blessed for reasons that I can’t disclose here. Within the next 36 hours I was able to document those three plants to my absolute satisfaction in a manner that would make Hollywood stunt filmmakers jealous!!!

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas.Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Galeola falconeri Hook., Page no 265.

Galeola lindleyana (Hook.f. & Thomson) Rchb.f.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Rhizome thick and long clothed with many fleshy scales. Stem thick, 3 to 5 cm in cross section, cylindrical, 4 to 11.7 ft in height, hollow, puberulous. Leaf less. Flower many, in panicles at regular intervals with the lower ones erect and arranged parallel to the stems as well as long as 15 to 55 cm, the upper ones shorter in length, spreading and diagonally erect. Panicles puberulous and hollow, with a small lanceolate arising from its lower side of the base

The Flower

Flowers large, 3 to 5 cm across, spongy, in short stalks. Sepals un-equal, with rough wavy ribs externally; dorsal oblong, diagonally erect, smaller than the lateral pair; lateral oblong to elliptic, spreading, margins to its apex curved upwards. Petals larger than the sepals, ovate, margins minutely fimbriate, apex curved back, spreading. Lip cup shaped, sessile, with a three lobed notch at its apex, the inner surface hairy throughout. Floral bract small, lanceolate, arising from the upper side of the stalk.

Sepals bright yellow inside, pale brownish yellow outside. Petals bright yellow. Lip bright yellow outside, orange red inside. Floral bract dark brown.

Galeola lindleyana (Hook.f. & Thomson) Rchb.f.

The Pursuit

Another beautiful and striking plant of the region. Due to various habitat destructions this species turned out to be very rare to find from its natural habitats. With my extensive survey work in the region, I encountered this species from three different locations spread over 4 years. The last find was some something very unique and special to the scientific word, hence I am narrating that find here.

Already found twice earlier, this species was not in my “to find” list for the year 2012. I was working in a semi-tropical region with very good access to dense forested high hill areas. Hence, every alternate day I visited high hills as well as slopes for my routine surveys. On a visit to a nearby village, I was informed about few villagers who had cardamom farms inside the forest almost two decades ago. They were forced to leave that area after it was declared as part of a National Park. As those villagers inherently lived inside the forest in connection with their farming activities I thought of having an interaction with some of them. I was sure they might be having some interesting stories about that forest which will be of immense help to me. As I was sharing my experience on orchids they expressed their desire to see some of my photographs. I obliged them by displaying the orchid photographs in my Ipad. An elderly man after seeing this species photograph started describing about a same plant much taller than him (like all others from the hill, he was also around 5 ft high). My curiosity made him describe the height of the plant as taller as a plantain tree growing near to his hut. The plantain was around 10 ft in height. After this particular interaction I was very eager to visit that place. I decided to make a trip later as the blooming time of this species was still two months away.

After 40 days I was there in the village and requested the same man to find somebody to take me there. He was so kind enough to send his son with me to the forestland, which was once their home. The trek so was difficult. The monsoon had made the entire forest floor with thick undergrowth and many leeches. That area was always full of leeches, especially the long ones. After around 1 hr and 40 min trek we reached the area where they were having their cardamom plantation some 20 years back. To our surprise, he found 4 plants of this species growing there. All of them were around 5 ft in height. On close observation it was found that the plants were relatively young and would grow taller in height. We returned to the village by evening and I decided to shift my place of stay to this village temporarily, so that I can visit this species every other day and study its growth pattern. Luckily, the elderly man asked me to stay in his house itself. For the next 46 days I visited the plants every second day till it reached a staggering height of 11′ 7″. Every time I visited the plant my excitement was growing so high, that I thought I might go “freak”. The batteries, which got drained on every visit, were countless. However, when the statistics were compared with other available data it was found that this specimen which was at 11′ 7″was the highest growing orchid specimen ever recorded from the region.

More interestingly, the happy news was the species survived at the same area for more than 20 years. A great news to the conservation related works of the Forest Department officials of the region. A senior official attributed the presence of the species surviving there to the eviction of villagers and their cardamom farm. However, many villagers are still unhappy about abandoning their cardamom farms.

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Galeola lindleyana, Reichb., Page no 264/265.

Calanthe puberula Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs small, less than 2 cm long, ovoid with conical apex, with several long stout roots arising from its base. Pseudo-stem about 2 to 3 cm long, sheathed with two lanceolate bracts, with the upper one more than twice longer than the lower smaller one. Leaves four to five, unequal with undulate margins and veined surface, elliptic, acuminate, narrowed to the sheathed base, 5 to 8 cm long and 2 to 4 cm in width. Flower many, laxly arranged, in a peduncle arising amongst the leaves, usually single rarely two. Peduncle much longer than the leaves, with an erect lanceolate bract around its middle. Raceme minute ribbed as well as puberulous.

The Flower

Flowers 2 to 3 cm across, facing diagonally down. Sepals unequal, lanceolate with broad base; dorsal erect; lateral longer than the dorsal, the basal margin curved upwards towards its upper side and spreading behind the ovary to form a sickle shape; dorsal and sepal three veined. Petals erect, very narrow, longer than the dorsal sepal, linear with pointed apex, spreading, one veined. The base of the lip adnate with the column, three lobed; basal diverging, oblong, blunt; the apical lobe broadly quadrate with short fimbriated margins and pointed tip, its base converging and extending to a narrow short broad linear base. The disc with two narrow short calli arranged between the basal lobes. Floral bract lanceolate, curved up, arising from the base side of the stalked and decurved ovary, shorter than the latter.

Sepals and petals translucent, pale lavender. The basal lobe of the lip pale pink, the dorsal with a triangular shade of the same colour with white margins and a long narrow white separation running through its middle. The disc with two long parallel irregular broken dark pink markings. The column yellow with dark pink markings. Ovary pale brownish pink. Floral bract green.

The Pursuit

In the first year of my orchid hunt of the region I planned to visit the location of this beautiful species. One of my local contacts in the region had seen this plant from a place quite far away from my base camp. Due to various reasons I missed that trip for a few months and was able to go for the hunt by the mid of September only. By that time it had bloomed and its seedpods were dry. When the habitat is located it will be only a matter of re-visiting it at the time of its bloom the next season. Hence, I was happy with my local contact for guiding me to make this find.

The next year I planned the trip in the month of June itself along with the start of monsoon rains. However, the long winding road to the location got blocked with several landslides and reaching the location turned out to be impossible. I tried several short cuts to bypass those landslides but without much success. I was really disappointed with the natural events. It is the worst nightmare for any explorer for not being able to reach the location of a find. Finally, after many efforts I decided to look for another locations for this species.

In the third year of my research, I was camping in a protected area during the monsoon months. The forests there were sub-tropical to sub-alpine and I was able to find many ground orchids from the region. But this species remained elusive. Inside the protected area there were two narrow streams. The steams were with full flow around the year. In summer because of the melting snow in the high hills, in monsoon due of rains and in winter due to several springs downstream. Those wet surroundings of the two streams are always home to several plants and ground orchids, especially annuals. I concentrated on the banks of one of the streams for this plant. I trekked along the banks of the stream on its entire length to look for this plant. As both the sides of the stream are of vertical steep mountains I was forced to walk in waist high waters of the river. This made the trek very difficult. The higher I went the denser the forest, with the presence of many wild animals that frequently visited the stream. I was always exposed to danger due to the wildlife. Camping inside the forest was impossible, which made me walk back to my base camp every day after my hunt. By the mid of July it was time to move to another place. I had only three more days at that place and I decided to move much deeper inside the forest to look for this species.

On the penultimate day, I took a route never ever used even by the forest patrol party. The new route took me so deep inside the forest and for the first time in my entire work in the region of Sikkim-Himalayas I encountered a leopard and a bear the same day, that also within a span of 15 minutes!!! I always felt that I get more courage to venture into deep forest after encountering wildlife. My instant courage helped me survey a vast area on that day and finally found this species, a set of 15 plants scattered over a small area under thick undergrowth. Of the 15 plants 4 were in buds. Buds means more and more visits to the place in the coming days. As I haven’t found this species from any other locations there were no other options other than visiting that location in the coming days. I never advocated the practice of others researchers who took plants to their homes and research laboratories to have it in flower. On the way back I made several reference points to negotiate my coming trips to that deep area. On comparison with the measurements of buds taken and that of the reference book made me understand that those buds will bloom within 7 to 10 days. As the species got many flowers and they bloom one by one from the bottom of the peduncle, if late by a couple of days also I will get one or other flower in bloom. The next day I moved to the new location. From there I visited this location on the ninth day and was accompanied by another researcher of the region. Even though he was not working on orchids, the locals of the region and I suspected that he collected many orchids for others. Hence, none were happy with his presence. But, sometimes due to compulsions I am in company of such personalities. We reached the location on the previous evening and rested at the base camp.

Early morning with pack lunch, we proceeded to the location. As we ventured very deep inside the dense forest, my friend was not willing to accompany us. His usual research trips were on the fringes of forests and he was not at all accustomed with wild life areas. Then it came from the horse’s mouth itself, that, “I want to return”. He tried several attempts to take my assistant along with him to safeguard his return journey. My assistant gifted him one of our lunch packs and said “namaste dhaju” (Dhaju means elder brother). After he disappeared from our eyes we proceeded to the location by taking reference from the markings we made on our last return journey. Till our friend was there with us we never discussed about the references we made for our journey as we feared he might pass on that vital information to plant collectors of the region. We reached the spot without much difficulty to see several of them in bloom. I selected the freshly bloomed flowers and made this wonderful photograph. Also, the in-situ study of the species made reveal many new characteristics of the species, which were not even described by the pioneers in their monumental work.

The return journey was also breathtaking, with a female leopard following us for almost an hour!!!

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Calanthe puberula Lindl., Page no 166.

Calanthe trulliformis King and Pantling.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs very small, oblong to cylindrical, less than 1.5 cm long, with many stout long roots. Pseudo-stem short, about 2 cm long. Leaves 4 to 5, narrow, linear- lanceolate, acute, erect and arching diagonally, sessile, distinctly veined, 7 to 12 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in a peduncle longer than the leaves, arising from the inside of the outer leaf, flowers arranged laxly at the top quarter of the peduncle, the peduncle with a single erect, large lanceolate bract around the middle of it.

The Flower

Flowers 1.5 to 3 cm across, erect. Sepals sub-equal, lanceolate, much narrowed towards apex; dorsal erect; lateral spreading; surface and margins irregularly curving, three veined. Petals narrow than the sepals, lanceolate, spreading, surface and margins irregularly curving, one veined. Base of the lip adnate with the column, side lobes absent, trowel shaped with few irregular rounded lobes at its margins, much narrowed to its apex. The disc with two lamellae converging from its base and running parallel to two-third of its length, puberulous to its apex. The opening of the mouth is triangular in shape with its interior covered with fine hairs. Spur short, cylindrical with rounded apex, minutely puberulosus. Ovary stalked, curved and puberulous. Floral bract erect, lanceolate, as long and arising from the lower base of the stalked ovary.

Sepals with long varying sized purplish brown margins running parallel to its veins, broader at its base and diminishing and disappearing to its apex. Petals as same as the sepals, but the purplish brown margins are broken or irregular in length. Lip creamy white with its base with pink margins, the inside base of the converging lamellae are also marked with pink. The fine hairs on the opening of the spur is pure white. Spur creamy white, translucent. Floral bract dark green. The exterior of the sepals and petals are green with few darker veins.

Calanthe trulliformis, King and Pantling. — Calanthe trulliformis King and Pantling.

The Pursuit

Another beautiful Calanthe of the region, but very rarely found or documented from its natural habitats. In the description of this species in the monumental work, the authors mentioned “Mahaldaram Peak” as its habitat. Even with that reference also no researchers were able to locate it from its natural habitat till now from the region.

In the year 2012, with my alpine region flower hunt, I was able to visit many densely forested hills and mountains of the region during the monsoon season. Monsoon months are generally the blooming time of most of the Calanthes. Hence, I was determined to locate this species also.

Several visits to Mahaldaram Peak never yielded any result in finding this species. With my studies on orchids of the region, I found several orchid species showing proximity to many trees and plants of the region and were also found growing near to those same trees and plants from different region too. Hence, I particularly collected more details of some trees and plants of the region. I was very much confident that if this species was growing at this peak during the work of King and Pantling, the trees and plants here will help me in finding the species from some other region. Hence, during my visit to several other places I was looking for the same trees and plants of the Mahaldaram Peak. The monsoon season is full of activities in the hills with many plants flowering and many animals breeding. The breeding time of animals are not the best time time to be inside deep forests, as they attack any intruders into their territory. Frequent visits were not possible to all locations due to inclement weather and road blocks due to heavy monsoon showers. But I always tried to utilise the days maximum with regular surveys. Once during the peak monsoon days I was very far away in a dense forested area in connection with another find. I came across many of the same species trees and plants of the Mahaldaram Peak. I shared the information to my assistant that there is a possibility of finding this species there as the region’s habitat is as close to that of Mahaldaram Peak. I shown him the drawing of the species by Pantling and requested him to search other areas while I concentrate on documenting another species. After the documentation was done I also started searching for the species. Presence of a leopard with its new born cubs made both of us search together. The plant is very small and looking for it from thick undergrowths on a wet rainy day was very difficult. As the days are with many flowering orchids across the region, my days were very busy traveling length and breadth of the region. Hence, each and every hour matters and I am very particular to use the hours available at the maximum.

By evening, we found three small plants very similar to this species. As one more Calanthe resembles this in plant form, it was not sure whether it was this species itself. I visited the place several times in the next 20 days to see the growth progress of those plants. Finally, after around one month it produced a long peduncle. By studying the features of the peduncle I understood this is the species I am looking for. It took another 3 weeks to the flowers to open and to produce this wonderful photograph. By that time my travel log book got 17 records of visits to this location, which was more than any other species finds.

However, in the year 2013, I found 2 more plants of this species from another location of the region accidentally. As I was trekking to a high altitude location I found two of them from the near to the trek route, one in buds and the other in bloom. As I was in a hurry I haven’t documented the flowers on that occasion, but I noted down many other trees and plants of that location only to prove my findings of plant to plant relationships.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Calanthe trulliformis King and Pantling, Page no 168.

Calanthe tricarinata Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs small, ovoid, 1 to 1.5 cm long, with many stout roots. Pseudo-stem 4 to 6 cm long. Leaves three, unequal, oblanceolate, acute, much narrowed to its base, with short petiole, veined, 7 to 12 cm and 2 to 4 cm wide, petiole 1 to 1.5 cm long. Flowers many, laxly arranged, in a long erect peduncle arising amongst the leaves. Raceme less than half in length of peduncle.

The Flower

Flowers 2 to 4 cm across, pendulous. Sepals sub-equal, lanceolate; dorsal minutely wider than the lateral pair, apex margins curved to form a boat like structure, diagonally erect; lateral curved forward, apex like that of dorsal; both 1 to 3 veined. Petals as long as the lateral sepals, linear with pointed apex, curved forward, 1 veined. Lip broadly oblong, decurved, three lobed. The base forming a rounded cavity like depression with a didymous puberulous callus on the apex to its entrance. The basal lobes linear, spreading with its rounded apex curved up. The apical lobe oblong, obtuse, decurved, edges undulate, its disc with three parallel projecting ridges running its entire length with the middle one longer than the other two. Floral bracts very small, lanceolate, clasping, arising from the lower side of the stalked ovary.

Sepals and petals pale green. Outside of the sepals with few dark veins. The base of the lip pinkish purple, its callus creamy white. Basal lobes pale cream. The disc and the ridges of the apical lobe are reddish to purple turning white to the lip margin. Floral bract translucent, pale green.

The Pursuit

The alpine region starts around 8700 ft and above. According to the text of King and Pantling, the altitudinal range of this species was at 6000 ft. Hence, I never included this species in my search list for the alpine region. My place of stay was in a village around 8500 ft, their electricity was provided from a small hydro power station located near a huge waterfall. The village was provided with 24 hours of power supply, a very rare phenomenon in the Himalayas. However, due to some technical reasons coupled with hidden political agenda of people in authority, the generators of the power house went silent and authorities decided to construct a new power station with more production capacity a couple of kilometers away from the water falls. The contract was given to a private company, which brought in people from the plains of India to work there. As I was also staying in that village I developed a good friendship with some of the workers. They were fixing a huge iron pipe to carry water to the powerhouse from the waterfalls. The entire slope of the hill was cleared to fix several concrete pillars to support the iron pipeline. Every day I observed with distress the destruction happening to the floral population on that hill.

I moved to higher altitudes to document other in bloom. While I was camping much higher in the region, I received a vague message. It was sent by a driver of a transport vehicle carrying fresh vegetables to security personnel manning the high altitude posts. The message was short – “some flower in bloom, come down immediately”. In that region communication links are not available to verify the news or even proper transportation facilities to move around at ease. Hence, I decided to come down in the same vehicle when it returns after unloading the vegetables. I reached downhill by 6 PM in the evening and went to the camp office of the new construction company from where they had sent the message. On enquiry the person who was in the office confirmed that they found some plants in bloom and they believe it was an orchid and wanted me to see it. The word “orchid” made my adrenaline counts go up.

By then it was dark and climbing up hill was not possible. So I retired to rest in one of their cabins with my mind unrest with many thoughts on all possible species. During dinnertime, one of their staff came to me and shown a photograph he had taken on his mobile phone. He said that while they were clearing the slope they spotted this plant in bloom and wanted me to see it. I was surprised to see the photograph of this species. Till that time I never thought I will find this species from the alpine region. I had a sleepless night, as every time I closed my eyes the photograph of the plant in bloom was interrupting my sleep.

Next morning, I was up early to walk up the hill to the location of the plant. After a steep climb of around 30 minutes we were there. There were three plants, with several flowers, but mostly withered. One plant was left with two open flowers. I was disappointed that nobody noticed three plants before all its flowers withered off. I was left with no options other than be satisfied with those two flowers. I tried my level best to produce the best of the results from those two flowers. With God’s grace I succeeded in that.

My next priority was to make sure the construction activities going on the hill slope should not destroy the plants. I had a discussion with the man who is in charge of the whole work and explained to him the importance of the plant and its find. He was convinced to some extend and he fenced that small area to prevent any destruction. To date the iron fence still stands there protecting this species, with five plants appearing this season. I too made improvements in my notes and the documentary evidences by re-visiting those plants!!!

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Calanthe tricarinata Lindl., Page no 166.

Calanthe masuca (D.Don) Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo bulbs, closely arranged, conical with annular scars, 4 to 6 cm in height, many long stout roots arising from its base. Leaves elliptic, acute, narrowed at the base to a short petiole, 4 to 6 in numbers, 8 to 12 cm long and 3 to 5 cm in width, veined. Flowers many, in peduncle arising between the outer leaf and the inner ones, and longer than it, with 2 to 4 narrow lanceolate bracts at regular intervals. Raceme much shorter than the peduncle. Floral bract narrow, lanceolate, arising from the lower side of the stalked ovary.

The Flower

Flowers about 3 to 4 cm across, depressed. Sepals sub-equal, lanceolate; dorsal slightly shorter and wider than the lateral, arching or diagonally erect; lateral spreading. Petals smaller and narrower than the sepals, oblanceolate, one veined. Lip smaller than the sepals and petals, three lobed; basal lobes oblong, stretching forward; apical lobe large, spreading, rhomboid, deeply emarginate at its apex; the disc with three irregular long calli at the centre and two short ones on to its sides. Spur cylindric, longer than the stalked ovary. Floral bract arising from the lower side of the stalked ovary and less than half the size of it, lanceolate.

Sepals and petals pale violet to pink, petals much paler than the sepals. The margins of both closer to pinkish white. Lip of a darker shade of sepals and petals, the ridges on its disc are reddish brown. Spur and ovary pale violet. Floral bract green.

The Pursuit

During the alpine hunt months between May and October my visits to the lower altitudes were very seldom. With some urgent financial issues I was forced to make a trip down hill. Luckily without any roadblocks and landslides we reached the town and I attended the work and were about go back. One of my friends from the town who got news about my presence in the town invited us to have lunch from his home. As we were driving to his home, I spotted several plants of this species in full bloom on the valley side of the road. As I never expected this species there at that time, it needed a closer look to identify it. As I was carrying my camera and accessories I decided to document it then and there. I had studied this species earlier so it took hardly 30 to 40 minutes for the documentation. Then we proceeded to my friend’s home, had lunch and went back up hill.

My first encounter with this species was more exciting and I wish to share it here. The find was two years before I started living in the Sikkim-Himalayas. While in the college I took two field trips every year to the North East states under the educational program funds, spanning for 60 to 70 days each. I was traveling in the 12424 Dibrugarh Town bound New Delhi-Dibrigarh Town Rajdhani express, a journey which will take about 39 hours. On the second day of the journey around 13 hrs with a major station approaching, the train was moving at slow speed due to some rail replacements on the track. As I was looking out of the window, I saw several of this species in bloom inside the bushy under growths on the sides of the rail track. As the Rajdhani was running at a very slow speed and proximity of the flowers in bloom helped me to identify the species and I wanted to document it. That was my first encounter with this species in bloom. By that time the train had entered the station, and I was so eager to study and document it, that I instantly decided to de-board. De-boarding the huge load of luggage, staying for that night there and re-scheduling the trip ahead etc., never came to my mind, as I was totally mesmerised by those flowers at that time. Got off the train with all my luggage and headed straight the Station Superintendent’s office. I explained to him about my journey ahead and the reason of de-boarding the train. He was a very kind man and told me not to worry. He called a helper and put my entire luggage in his official room. I was so relaxed and happy to see the luggage kept safe and I walked all the way under the hot sun to the location of those flowers and studied and documented them. As it was my first encounter with the plant it took more than 3 hours to finish the documentation work. By that time, the Station Master got worried and sent a search party to look for me. To the relief of the Station Master, I returned with the search party. I slept in the retiring room, arranged by the Station Master for the night, along with many annoying mosquitoes!!! Next day, the Station Master using his official influence got me another confirmed ticket for the same 12424 Rajdhani of that day for Dibrugarh Town and I proceeded to my destination, with a wonderful find to my kitty.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Calanthe masuca Lindl., Page no 173

Calanthe alpina Hook.f. ex Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs closely arranged, cylindric, with two or three annular markings, tapering to both ends, 2 to 4 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, with few scattered stout roots. Pseudo-stem very short, sheathed. Leaves three, unequal, oblanceolate, acute, tapering towards a short petiole, 7 to 12 cm long and 2 to 4 cm in width, petiole 1 to 1.5 cm long, distinctly veined. Flowers few, laxly arranged in a peduncle arising from the inside of the outer leaf. Peduncle smaller than the longer leaf and with a single lanceolate bract around one third of its height from the base.

The Flower

Flowers 2 to 3 cm across. Sepals almost equal, ovate with pointed apex, margins to the apex curved up to form a boat like structure. Dorsal sepals arching or diagonally erect, lateral not spreading, curved forward, five nerved. Petals smaller than the sepals, lanceolate with pointed apex, the boat shaped margins toward the apex is not prominent as that of sepals, not spreading but curved forward. Lip as long as the sepals, without side lobes, broadly lanceolate when spread, margins fimbriate as well as curved up to form a boat like structure. Spur straight, cylindric, longer than the decurved ovary and narrowing to its minutely bifid apex. Floral bracts lanceolate, diminishing upwards, arising from the upper side and less than half the size of the decurved ovary,

Sepals and petals pale creamy white at their bases turning greenish white to their margins and apexes. Lip creamy white, its disc with five pinkish brown parallel broad lines running through its entire length. The fimbriate margins, under side of the lip and the portion on the sides of the disc are with irregular markings and spots of pinkish brown. Spur pale creamy white. Floral bract pale green to its base and turning green towards its apex.

Calanthe alpina, Hook.f. ex Lindl. — Calanthe alpina Hook.f. ex Lindl.

The Pursuit

A plant found and described by Sir. J. D. Hooker on his epical voyage in the Sikkim-Himalayas back in 1848-49. However, even after more than 164 years this plant was not documented at all from the region. Several publications by many eminent researchers were out in the market in those 164 years with descriptions of this species. But none of them were able to produce a photograph of this species in flower or in plant thus underlining the fact that none of them had ever spotted the plant from its natural habitats. The description of the plant were merely a “cut and paste” from Hooker’s publication.

I was determined to find this plant at any cost. During my alpine region work in the monsoon months I had put extra efforts to locate this species. Two monsoon seasons went without any trace of the species. In 2012, during the monsoon I was in the high hills doing my alpine hunt. The region is mostly under the control of border security force and needs many reporting at several points for my movement. Due to various reasons beyond explanation I became very familiar and close with many of the officials, which enabled my movement and work in the region without much obstacles. On one such day, as I was there on the reporting desk to report about that day’s trip, the official who was in charge of co-ordination asked me whether I am willing to accompany a team of personnel on a mission inside the deep forest. My reply to such a wonderful opportunity was affirmative.

Within a short time the entire party was ready to leave and I accompanied them. They were trekking to a deep forest inside a valley for fixing some communication lines that had snapped during the previous day’s rain. The area was a region I had never ventured. It was a golden opportunity to explore a new area, along with many security personnel; some of them had undergone jungle warfare coaching. The sixth sense in me was saying, “that today I am going to find something new”. It was the monsoon season and there will be many annular plants in bloom. The only difficulty is that to locate them from the thick under growths, which cover the forest floor during the monsoon. The only advantage of those alpine forests is that there will not be any poisonous snakes. The first one-hour went without any new finds, all the species I spotted were all recorded earlier by me. As the personnel were working with their assignment, I ventured down to the valley, which was covered with towering trees all around. The forest was silent but for the sound of the flow of a small stream. My experience with thick forests in the alpine region shows that the streams inside thick forest are heaven for annular plants especially terrestrial orchids. As the valley was having a steep slope it was very difficult to walk ahead to the stream. As I had a strong back up team few meters behind me to tackle any emergencies I was determined to move forward to the stream. It took me around 40 minutes to cover few meters to reach down to the stream. It was hardly 2 m wide, but the flow was so strong I was not able to cross it. Hence, I decided to climb up-hill along its side so that I can survey both the sides of the stream. As the valley was deep the up hill climb was more difficult. I dropped the idea of up-hill climb and decided to go back and join the personnel at work. As I was turning around I spotted three small plants in bloom, less than 15 cm in height, on the other side of the stream. I was not able to identify it, however I understood it was an orchid species. I never missed any opportunity to document an orchid, how great the difficulties I have to face. I thought of several ideas to cross the stream, but crossing it all alone was very risky. Then I thought of taking the help of security personnel at work. Surprisingly, an interesting idea came to me – climb up a tree of this side of the stream and move across a branch hanging to the other side and jump down!!! I don’t know from where I got the courage or skills, I was up a tree in a few seconds, moved across and jumped down on the other side of the stream. With great difficulty I reached those plants and to my surprise it was Calanthe alpina Hook., a plant which was never found for more than 150 years from the region. I was in a state of ecstasy that I have no words to explain. The flowers were fresh bloom with many buds still to be in bloom. “It seems they were waiting for me”. I sat there near to the plant on that wet forest floor, spread out my notebook to make drawings and noted down other details, and started documenting it. By then, the security personnel started beckoning me. I responded with message that I will join them soon. I documented the plant and its flowers till all the batteries I was carrying drained out.

The most interesting part of that day was still to follow; I found no ways to cross the stream. Most of the trees on the other side were with wide trunks and I was unable to climb. After several attempts, I called for help and a few personnel came running to my rescue. They helped me with ropes and fallen tree trunks to cross the stream. We all returned to the base after around 2 hours of steep climb. In the evening I got a message from the highest security official of the unit to meet him next day. I guessed it would be regarding my risky affairs of the day. The next day I visited him at his office. Before he started the topic I mesmerized him with many beautiful photographs of the species and explained to him the importance of the find. The talk and discussion went for about half an hour and by that time he virtually had forgotten for what he had called me.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Calanthe alpina Hook., Page no 170.