Naresh Swami | The Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya | Memoirs of an orchid hunter – Page 11 – Naresh Swami, The Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya, Memoirs of an orchid hunter, sikkim orchids, darjeeling orchids

Herminium monorchis (L.) R.Br.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Tuber small, globular to ovoid, with few stout long naked roots arising from the base of the stem. Whole plant 8 to 12 cm in height. Stem angled or ribbed, almost two third of the plant height, with a long tubular sheath at its base a long narrow lanceolate bract at its apex. Leaf two, closely arranged juts above the base of the stem, elliptic to lanceolate, narrowed at its base to a long tubular sheath, veined, diagonally erect, 3 to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm in width. Flower many, densely arranged in a short spike.

The Flower

Flower small, less than 1 cm across, pendulous. Sepals unequal, dorsal ovate with broad base, smaller than the lateral pair, diagonally erect; lateral lanceolate, acute, pointing forward.Petalslanceolate, longer than the sepals, acute. Lip as long as the petals or slightly longer than it, lanceolate, acute, fleshy and pointing downwards. Floral bract small, narrow, erect, lanceolate, almost half the size and arising from the lower base of the erect, twisted and beaked ovary.

Sepals and floral bract pale green. Petals and lip yellowish green.

The Pursuit

There was no mention about this species in the monumental work of King and Pantling. Hence, I was not aware about its presence in the region. The species has been mentioned in another work on orchids of the region, but without any documentary evidence. Many publications with reports of various species without proper fieldwork or documentary evidence have compounded to the confusion prevailing in the study of orchids. Hence, I was very careful in finding each species from its natural habitats.

My alpine flower hunt was for continuous six months spread across a vast region from an altitude of 9000 ft to 18000 ft, thus covering most of the alpine areas. The plan of living there for six continuous months helped in bringing out many evidences of several plants, which were never been document earlier. Moreover, I was able to physically inspect and study several areas where no humans had ever ventured.

In the third month of the alpine hunt, I was working relatively at higher altitudes, above 13,000 ft. At those heights the rains clear off for bright sunny days. The floors of the forests and slopes will be totally covered with several hundred species of plants. Most of the alpine plants are small herbs except the Rhododendrons, which can grow up to 3 to 4 ft in height. Looking for small herbs, less than 15 cm in height, from a vast open area fully covered with thousands of species is like searching for a needle from a haystack. I generally concentrate on open patches and streamside to study the pattern of vegetation. After understanding the habitat I look for specific species. This method of pursuit was comparatively easier than searching the whole area for a particular species. By the mid of that month, I found 12 small orchid plants next to a small stream. The plants were very small with a pair of leaves and a small spike. Even though I was not able to identify the species, it was understood that the flowers would bloom in another 15 to 20 days. In the next two weeks, I visited the location many times to make sure all the plants were intact. Finally it bloomed and I was able to identify the plants as this species.

After the identification I surveyed other areas for this species, especially those regions similar in habitat. From several locations I found more than 200 specimens of this species in that month itself. It is something to wonder why King and Pantling were not able to locate a plant, which is in abundance? They were able to describe with illustration of many species which were even considered rare to very rare during their times.

Reference:

There is no reference of this species in the The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Androcorys josephi Rchb.f.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 10 to 16 cm in height. Tuber globular, small, two or three long roots arising from the base of the stem. Stem cylindrical, more than half the height of the plant, with a loose tubular sheath at its base and a narrow long, linear, erect bract around its apex. Leaf two or three, unequal, closely arranged and arising a little above the base sheath, elliptic, veined, narrowed at the base to a long tubular sheath, 3 to 5 cm long and around 1.5 cm in width. Flower many, arranged closely in a ribbed spike shorter than its stem.

The Flower

Flower 1.5 cm across. Sepals unequal; dorsal ovate with broad base, diagonally erect; lateral pair longer than the dorsal, linear to oblong, spreading, with margins curved up, both one veined. Petals longer than the sepals, lanceolate, diagonally erect and it apex bend backwards. Lip as long as the lateral sepal, pointing downward, broadly ovate, with small-clawed side lobes. Floral bract erect and less than one third the size of the erect ovary, lanceolate, and arising from the lower base of the ovary.

Sepals pale green with a dark broad vein along its middle. Petals and lip greenish yellow. Floral bract pale green.

The Pursuit

I found many documented evidences of this species from various publications. Hence, I was of the opinion that I will be able to find out this species without much difficulty. But my calculations’ went totally wrong, as I was not able to locate the species in the first year of my alpine work.

In the second year, I concentrated on areas where I had seldom visited the previous year. I worked very well and was able to locate many new species as well as new habitats of species I found earlier. Then too this species remained elusive. The mention of its blooming months in the referral work was June/July. Hence, I made my survey plans for this species by the mid of May on various locations, mainly on open slopes.

Every day it rained heavily on those altitudes and travel and survey was very hard. However, I kept a practice to continue with my survey uninterrupted every day irrespective of rains or sunshine. Most of the days we received heavy showers and I moved around in raincoats. The raincoat got a hood, which covers the whole head. Even though it helps in keeping my body dry, the survey was not comfortable as the hood disturbs proper visibility especially to the sides. Hence, my view was concentrated on to the center only. The narrow view coupled with heavy rains might have taken many species out of my sight. Finally, on a heavy raining day, as it was destined for me, I found this species from a bushy area. There were a total of seven plants, with most of the flowers in bloom as well as withered.

The find was also interesting. As I was searching an open area, there was a small animal, almost the size of a rat, which swiftly moved across the plains. As the visibility was poor I was not able to identify the animal and ran behind it to have a closer look. It ran inside those bushes and hid inside. I knew after some time it will surely come out and I would be able to identify it. As I was waiting there silently, I spotted a few ground orchids. As the animal took its own time, my attention moved to those orchids. On a closer look I was surprised to identify those small plants I found was that of this species. This species find made me abandon the wait for the small creature and rushed to those plants. It was such a joyous moment to see the plants considered common but which eluded me.

It was raining heavily and the flowers were also not so fresh. With much difficulty in those windy and raining conditions I made drawings and documented the plants. But, for reasons I cannot explain, I was not satisfied with those documentary results. However, even after two more seasons of work in the alpine region, this “common” plant remained elusive for me. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit the same location again in my later years. If had visited its habitat again I would have got the flowers fresh and also would able to document them on a sunny day!!!

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Herminium josephi Reichb. Pg. no. 335 – 336.

Herminium macrophyllum (D.Don) Dandy.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 12 to 17 cm in height. Tuber two, small ovoid to globular with many fine hairs arising from it, also with two or three long stout cylindrical roots arising from the base of the stem. Stem more than half in length of that of the whole plant, its base with one or two short tubular sheaths. Leaf two, arising close together, unequal, oblong to elliptic, narrowing to a short tubular sheath, 3 to 7 cm long and 1 to 2 cm in width. The portion between the stem and the spike is with a single linear, erect bract of less than 1 cm long. Flower many, laxly arranged on a minutely ribbed cylindrical spike.

The Flower

Flower around 2 cm across, diagonally drooping. Sepals unequal; dorsal broadly ovate, erect, shorter but wider than the laterals sepals; laterals sepals oblanceolate, with its apex margins curved up, spreading, three veined; margins of sepals minutely irregular. Petals longer than the sepals, erect, oblanceolate, with its inner margins curving to its apex to form a semi-sickle shape. Lip pointing downwards, longer than the sepals and petals, triangularly lanceolate, its apex margins minutely irregular and with a very Floral bract ovate, less than one third and arising from the lower base of the beaked ovary.

Sepal green. Petal and lip yellowish green. The canaliculate and its margins of the lip dark green. Floral green.

The Pursuit

Another rare orchid species of the high alpines, which went without any documentary evidences till date. It is surprising to note that even after many governmental agencies and other organisations working in the region spent huge amounts on research but without any positive results.

This species was also at the top of my “to be found” list when I first set out to North Sikkim’s alpine slopes. Even after several weeks of survey this species remained untraced. Even though King and Pantling described this species as “common” in their text, the species was not found. I came to the conclusion that the toll of climatic changes and natural calamities in the last 125 years made the axe fall on this species. One day I found that a new hanging bridge is being made across a small but deep stream. The reasons for making this bridge by spending lakhs of rupees remained a mystery as the area across the river was devoid of any hamlets or any open pastures used for grazing cattle. The area was of high mountains and thick forests. Around five workers were involved in the work and they were living there by constructing a small make shift camp house. I befriended them, with the sole intention to take one of them along with me when I venture deep into that region. A young man was kind enough to assist me whenever I visited that side. To make a rapport with them, every time I visited them I used to carry some fresh vegetables from the mainland, so that they can cook some tasty food. The young man who accompanied me every time had college education and was keen on flora and fauna. During our first three visits I taught him how an orchid plant looks like and how its flowers are. As he was keen to learn he started locating orchids and taking me to various location. Once in a week I a made trip with him to that location, however nothing new was found. All the species we located were all documented earlier from other habitats.

On a Wednesday evening, I was informed by a truck driver who came from the high hills that the boy who accompanies me had asked me to come to their location the very next day. Even though my schedule for the next day was for a different route, I decided to attend his call. I reached there by 8:30 AM, thanks to a lift by the Army convoy. He was waiting for me, from his facial expression itself I understood he found something very interesting for me. We made the arduous climb across the bridge and climbed up the dense forest. He took me to a very deep forest and shown me this species, a total of 13 of them. Most of the flowers were in full bloom and ready to be studied. The next 4 hours went with at most silence, we both were working in tandem, making drawings, arranging flashes and doing documentation. I was so happy the way people are helping me in finding each species. He was also so proud that he also part of rewriting history.

As I was saying goodbye to him on the road, instead of accepting my token of appreciation he requested that he would be happy to be gifted with an autographed copy of my publication.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Herminium congestum Lindl., Pg. no. 335.

Platanthera stenantha (Hook.f.) Soó.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 15 to 30 cm in height. With many long, stout and cylindrical roots arising from the base of the stem, no tubers. Stem stout with a small tubular sheath at its base. Leaf four, unequal with the lower most one the largest and diminishing in size upwards, elliptic, narrowed to a long sheathing base, 2 to 8 cm long and 0.7 to 3.5 cm in width. The portion above the uppermost leaf and the spike is with two small unequal lanceolate bracts. Spike shorter than the length of the stem. Flower many, laxly arranged.

The Flower

Flower large, about 3 cm across facing diagonally downwards. Sepals unequal; dorsal concave, shorter than the lateral sepals, diagonally erect; lateral lanceolate, with its apex margins on the lower side much curved to a form a sickle shape, spreading and bend backwards. Petals linear to lanceolate, diagonally erect, longer and arranged parallel to the sides of the dorsal sepal, one nerved. Lip lanceolate longer than the sepals and petals, pointing downwards. Spur straight, longer than the ovary, cylindrical with its broader apex and slightly curved. Floral bracts lanceolate, longer than the ovary, decurved to spreading, diminishing in length to towards the apex of the spike, arising from the lower base of the twisted and curved ovary.

Sepals pale green, petals and lip pale yellow, spur pale green and translucent. The outer margins to the entrance of the spur are bright orange. Floral bract green.

The Pursuit

This is one of the undocumented species from the region. As usual many publications came out with its descriptions and drawings, a virtual “cut and paste” theory. The drawings of this species by Pantling got my attention particularly its long lip. In the alpine region I trekked extra miles in pursuit for this particular species than any other species. However, for many weeks it remained elusive.

On a sunny day, we were on a trek to the hilltop through a motorable road. As that road was made for vehicular transport it got long curves and walking all the way up was time consuming. Hence, on the way uphill we were by passing many turnings by taking shortcuts through the adjoining forests. On the third short cut one of the villager who was accompanying me found a single plant of this species accidentally. From the pattern of its leaves I identified the plant. However, the buds were just emerging and on close observation it was understood that they would open after a couple of weeks only. I marked the location and set a date after 12 days to visit the location again. My curiosity about its flowers made me visit the location on the 11^th day. By then, some wild animals also took that short cut root and destroyed the plant. I was really saddened to see the crushed and dried state of the plant. In the wild, these types of incidents will happen; after all we were in their territory!!!

We searched the whole area in the next few days in vain. After a week I was left with no company for the trek as everyone was on vacation. I was concentrating on an area, which was immensely dense forest. I over came the fear of being alone and worked every day. On one afternoon, I felt the presence of some wildlife inside the forest and decided to move down hill immediately. As I was swiftly descending down hill I found two plants of this species underneath a thick Rhododendron tree. The thick trunk of the tree was wide enough to hide it from me. But, my sharp eyes found those plants. As I was very familiar with the Pantling’s drawings about the species, I immediately identified it. Then I was left with a dilemma, whether to study and document it then and there or come again the next day. The previous experience with the same species made me open my backpack and pull out my notebook and camera. I was concentrating for the next 15 to 30 minutes totally on the plants and I was oblivious about the wildlife movement around. As I was documenting the flowers again I noticed some movement some 10 m away from me. It was two grown bears, a mother and a calf. I understood the danger and swiftly moved to hide behind a tree. As the wind was towards me they were not able to find my location. After 15 minutes of tense moments both the bears walked back to the deep regions of the woods. I continued with my work, giving more attention on the bears than the plant. After documenting it and taking notes as fast as I could I too ran down to safety. After reaching down hill on the road, I opened my backpack to arrange the equipment and found out that I left one of my flashes at the location. As rains were common in those heights everyday, I know the evening rains will damage the flash, if I left it there. Hence, I made another tedious and tense climb again to collect the flash unit. By God’s grace there was no trace of those bears then.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Habenaria stenantha Hook., Page no: 314.

Platanthera sikkimensis (Hook.f.) Kraenzl.

The Plant

Grows on moss covered dead tree trunks. Whole plant 15 to 25 cm in height. Tubers cylindrical, about 2 to 3 cm long, with one or two stout roots arising from the base of the stem. Stem less than half in length of the whole plant, stout with one or two tubular sheaths at its base. Leaf two, unequal, the lower one the largest, elliptic, acute, veined, base narrowed to a short tubular sheath, diagonally erect. Flower many, arranged laxly on a long spike.

The Flower

Flower large, 3 to 4 cm across. Sepals unequal; dorsal triangular to ovate, with broad base and acute apex, smaller than the lateral sepals, three veined, erect; lateral linear to oblong, twice as long as the dorsal, spreading initially, then twisting and curving. Petals longer than the dorsal sepal but smaller than the lateral; lanceolate with broad base and narrowing to its apex, acute, curving back. Lip longer than all other flower parts except its spur, lanceolate, rigid, pointing downwards. Spur cylindrical, longer than the ovary, curved forward at its apex. Floral bract longer than the short beaked and twisted ovary, diminishing in length to the apex of the spike, arising from the lower portion of the ovary.

Whole flower pale yellowish green with its spur of a much paler shade. Floral bract green.

Platanthera sikkimensis (Hook.f.) Kraenzl.

The Pursuit

In the monumental work of King and Pantling, there was no mention of any Habenaria (at that time this species was with genus Habenaria) growing on moss covered fallen tree trunks. As I followed their text, I never expected anything like that from the region. By accident I spotted few small plants growing on a moss covered fallen tree trunk deep inside a forested area. The plants were so small to identify, but they got all the features of an orchid species. I decided to mark the area and visit it after around 10 days. As I was returning from those deep-forested area, I slipped over a rock, injuring my left shoulder and knee and also damaging my flash, which I was carrying in my backpack. After doing first aid there, I returned to the camp limping.

On the 12^th day, accompanied by the forest official I again visited the location to study those plants. The plants attained and were with few small buds. That growth was enough to identify the species. I was really happy to understand its various characteristics. I understood after a close study of the plant that it would take another 10 to 12 days for the buds to be in bloom. While we were returning, I had another fall from the same rock of the previous trip. This time even though my camera accessories were safe I got few cuts on my left arm, chest and knees. My friend was kind enough to help me and to clean the wounds. While he was doing first aid I explained to him the incident happened at the same location on my previous visit. He then came up with several fictitious stories and theories, to explain what I had experienced. He shared a short story of a person thrown into a gorge recently very much near by. Even though I did not totally agree with him I accepted the fact that places in the Himalayas are known for strange experience. Once again me I returned home with a limping leg.

On the proposed day of our next visit, I was left with no option other than to trek all alone as my friend was not available. However, some or other reasons made me abandon the trip. My friend returned only after 6 days and we proceeded to the location the very next day. To my agony, I found most of the flowers withered. I was forced to study and document those withered flowers. The lost opportunity made both of us speechless all the way back. As we approached the rock where I slipped twice, we both were cautious. The anxiety made both of us glance at each other several times. He was the first to climb up the rock and to our shock, he was thrown to the other side as if there was somebody sitting on top of the rock and pushing him down. Even though totally helpless and strength less by the incident, I was forced to jump across and help him to get back to the trek route. Even though he hasn’t got any cuts, he was quite frightened. We gathered all our strength to walk out of that area at the quickest possible way we could. Till the end of that season we never ventured to visit that location again.

Like the mystery of the three falls we experienced together, the mystery of this species remains. I never encountered this species till date.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Habenaria sikkimensis Hook. Page no: 317.

Platanthera nematocaulon (Hook.f.) Kraenzl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 12 to 20 cm in height. Tuber small, oblong with few stout short roots arising from the base of the stem (in some cases the bud for the subsequent year arising from the tuber). Stem very slender, long, almost two third of the plant height; with a single tubular, short sheath at its base. Leaf solitary, 2 to 4 cm above the base of the stem, elliptic, and narrowing into a short sheath at its base, 1.5 to 3 cm in length and about 1.5 cm in width. The stem above the leaf is with 3 to 4 lanceolate bracts arranged laxly and diminishing in size to the spike. Flower many in a spike.

The Flower

Flowers small, around 1.2 cm across. Sepals unequal; dorsal ovate, smaller than the lateral, erect; lateral oblong, arranged forward and parallel to the base margins of the lip. Petals lanceolate with broad base and acute apex, longer than the sepals, spreading. Lip lanceolate, longer than the sepals and petals, decurved and with its apex pointing down. Spur very small, compressed. Floral bracts erect, lanceolate, diminishing in length towards the apex of the spike and arising from the lower base of the twisted, beaked and erect ovary.

Sepals, petals and lip are pure white. Spur pale creamy white, translucent. Floral bract green.

Platanthera nematocaulon (Hook.f.) Kraenzl.

The Pursuit

This is one of the rarest of all alpine ground orchids. As it was not studied properly after the monumental publication (King, G. & Pantling, R. 1898), the scientific name of this species was confused. Many “experts” by sitting at their office desks merged this into another species thus making it “extinct” from the scientific world.

As part of my alpine survey I was in the high mountains. The work at those altitudes crosses all extremities. Everyday I was faced a new challenge from power shortage to wildlife. With help and cooperation of the people around and with the blessings of the Almighty, I crossed most of the challenges without much trouble. Moreover, I was regularly guided by a forest official who was very sincere as well as cooperative. With his help I was able to work everyday without much hassle.

On one of such flower hunt days, we decided to cut short our journey due of rains. Normally our practice was to wait for the skies to clear and continue with the work. On that day, my experienced assistant cum weather analyst was of the opinion that there will be heavy rains in the afternoon; hence we were on our way back much earlier than schedule. It was raining quite heavily and visibility was also very poor. The area was home to many bears and it was their breeding season. Hence, we always talk loudly when we pass through that region. The loud talks will always scare those bears and they move inside the forests leaving the trek routes safe for us. As we were descending a small curved path, the forest official lost his grip and slipped down the slope. My other assistant reacted quickly and jumped over him and stopped him from slipping further down. A huge tree trunk blocked their slip further down. By that time I too reacted swiftly by reaching to them and getting hold of one of them. It was more of fun than scary. All of us laughed and made jokes on each other. Usually I loose grip and always tumble even on level trek routes. When I tumble, they joke about it as the disadvantage of people from the plains. On that day the tables turned! As we were about to start our descend the forest officials spotted some unusually small flowers on a few very slender plants. He asked me to have a closer look and to I surprise it was this species – a species never caught on camera. That also seven plants with all of them in bloom. It was such a great moment of my entire orchid hunt, the rediscovery of the species, which will help further detail studies on it. As it was raining heavily we decided to come to the location the very next day for the documentary work. As I had seen wildlife or natural disasters damaging many plants and even their habitats overnight, I was on tenterhooks till the moment we were back to the location the next morning. As the species needed well-detailed documentation and study, we spent the whole day there producing many drawings and photographs. Thank God…it was a very sunny day.

Later on, exactly after 21 days, I spotted a single plant of this species again with flowers. That find was also an accidental one.

Reference:

King, G. &Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas.Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Habenaria nematocaulon Hook., Page no 316 – 317.

Liparis perpusilla Hook.f.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Pseudo stems small, compressed, fleshy, 1.5 to 3 cm long and 0.6 cm in width, arising close together. Stem with many thick long roots arising from its base. Leaf 3 to 5 arising from the apex of the stem circling it, oblong, erect, 2 to 6 cm long and less than 1 cm in width, apex pointed, base sessile, with many of them slightly curved towards their apex. Flower small, many in an erect inflorescence arising from the apex of the stem surrounded by the leaves. Inflorescence almost twice longer than the longest leaf of each plant, cylindrical, ribbed, fleshy.

The Flower

Flower less than 1 cm across. Sepals un-equal, oblong and with blunt apex. Dorsal erect, longer than the lateral. Lateral sepals wider than the dorsal, diagonally spreading. Petals linear to oblong, longer and much narrow than the sepals, arranged pointing downwards across the pedicel. Lip deflexed at the middle, deeply grooved from base to apex, margins wavy. Floral bract erect, shorter than the long pedicelled ovary, diminishing in length towards the apex of the inflorescence, arising from the lower base of the pedicel.

Flower brownish yellow to pale yellow. Floral bract green.

The Pursuit

I had found this species for three continuous years that too from three different locations. Of the three finds, the first one was the most thrilling; hence that pursuit story is described here.

With the alpine flower hunt I moved to high mountains by the mid of June. The trip got delayed by 15 days due to inclement weather and roadblocks caused by heavy rains. As that was my first alpine pursuit, it took a few days for me to get adjusted with the climatic conditions of the high mountains. However, I was blessed to find a very good person to assist me in the field. Even though he never ventured deep inside the forests of the region, he was aware about few trek routes that crisscross the forests.

In the first week itself, he took me to a very dense forested hill, which was higher in altitude than the place of my stay. Even though the uphill climb was very tedious, the dense forest was home to many species. Hence every other day we made a visit to those forests. After a week of sunny days the weather changed to heavy to very heavy rains. It rained continuously for 6 days. I was really upset about the weather conditions. The loss of a week during those peak flowering season was going to bring a big impact in my whole strategy. Finally, on the seventh day rain clouds cleared to make way for the Sun.

We took the uphill climb again looking for more species. As we were surveying the area, rain clouds appeared from nowhere and it started raining heavily. Even though we were prepared with raincoats and rain covers for the camera bag, we both were awe struck because of the sudden and intense rain. My friend guided me through that heavy rains and we took shelter under the trunk of a fallen tree. The tree was huge and very old with its main trunk more than 2 m in diameter under which we were well protected from the heavy showers. The only discomfort was that we both had to sit on our knees.

As time went by I started scanning the tree trunk and its broken branches for any possible species. To my surprise I found a small bunch of this species right next to where I was sitting, a small bunch of around 12 to 15 plants. This species is so small; even 12 to 15 plants occupy hardly few centimeters. Its peculiar stem shape and leaf arrangements made me instantly identify the species. My friend also spotted the species but advised me to wait for the rains to stop. He was more eager than me to safe guard my camera equipments from rainwaters and also to protect both of us from getting wet. We waited for another 4 hours for the rains to stop. However, there was no sign of it stopping. As it started to get dark we descended the hills with the help of walking sticks made from the branches of that fallen tree. It took more than 3 hours to reach downhill, a distance we normally cover in 40 minutes. The next week plans also got washed away in heavy rains.

On the 9^th day we were able to start surveying again and we went straight to the dense forested hill and to the fallen tree. I spotted the same bunch that we encountered on the previous rainy day. The plants were as the same, no buds or flowers. But, my inner mind said that there was a possibility to find more of the species. We both surveyed the whole fallen tree for the next 45 minutes to find seven bunches of the species, three of them in full bloom. But, the heavy showers of the previous days made the flowers water soaked and rotten. With great difficulty I selected a couple of flowers and documented them for the sake of presentation. Even though in the next weeks and months of my Alpine days I searched for this plant in various locations in vain.

In the following year I found the plant again from another location, this time with fresh and beautiful flowers and I was able to produce some great photographs of it.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Liparis perpusilla Hook., Page no 33.

Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó. – the Alba variety.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 12 to 16 cm in height. Tuber solitary, attached to the dried previous year’s tuber, rotund to oval, 1.2 cm long and 0.8 cm in cross section, with many fleshy long roots arising from the fresh tuber as well as dried roots of the previous year’s tuber. Stem almost half the height of the whole plant, arising from the apex of the fresh tuber, fleshy, with three lanceolate clasping sheaths surrounding its base, sheaths 0.75 to 3 cm long. Leaf one or two, arising from the top of the sheath or high above it, lanceolate to elliptic, 2.5 to 4 cm long and 1.2 to 2 cm in width at its widest part, diagonally erect, narrowed to a long clasping petiole. Flowers two, arranged at the topmost portion of a long cylindrical and faintly ribbed terminal spike, secund.

The Flower

Flowers large, 2 to 2.5 cm across. Sepals un-equal, the dorsal half the size of the lateral, ovate, arching forward over the petals. Lateral sepals spreading, ovate, upper margin sickle shaped and with upward pointing apex, one to three nerved. Petals as long as or slightly longer than the dorsal sepal, ovate, arranged forward with curving and overlapping apex. Lip less widely than the lateral sepals, obcordate in outline, with its apex cut to form mid and side lobes; mid lobe apiculate or rounded, side lobes oblong, both with irregular apex margins. Spur as long as the ovary and the lip, cylindrical, slightly curved upwards and compressed. Floral bract lanceolate, erect, longer than the ovary but diminishing to less than half in length in the apex flower and arising from the upper base of it.

Sepals and petals white with the latter being translucent. Petals with minutely yellow or thickened white veins. Lip pure white. Spur creamy white and translucent. Floral bract pale green.

Note: The Alba variety of Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó., is a new report to the region as well to the family of orchidaceae.

Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó. – the Alba variety.

The Pursuit

Another new find to the world of orchids. I never came across any literature on the Alba of Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó., during my initial home work on orchids of the region. Hence, never thought about looking for it.

In the third month of the Alpine flowering season I was camping around 16,000 ft in a valley far away from any human settlement. The valley, which is to be mentioned as virgin and devoid of any scientific explorations, was home to thousands of plants. Every other minute I was able to spot some or other plants, which are rare or new to my knowledge.

As there were no human settlements, the only stream of the valley hasn’t got many bridges across it but for one. The bridge – half broken, was constructed to facilitate security patrols to the International border. Even though the river is not deep, the water is so cold and the flow very rapid, thus preventing crossing over on foot. Thus surveying the region turned out to be of great difficulty, as I have to reach the point of the bridge to cross the river, which was very far away from my location of stay. However, I was determined to explore more and more areas every day by walking the extra mile.

During those the region received heavy showers, which made my pursuit tougher. Even though I was equipped with all weather tents, the strong winds along with heavy showers made the stay there very uncomfortable. The heavy winds made rainwater drip inside my tent through its air openings. Also, keeping the camera and other accessories dry and safe turned out to be very difficult. Three days passed by like that with similar climatic conditions. As we were unable to cook anything because of heavy rains and winds, my assistant and I were forced to live on dry fruits and fruit juices. Even drinking water went scarce; as we were not able to boil water, which we normally collect from the river or rain.

On the third night, winds settled down and clouds disappeared, making way to twinkling stars in the sky. At those high altitudes with clear sky, stars appear to be brighter and the sky beautiful. I was so delighted to see the clear skies and started planning for the next day’s trip.

We set out on our journey early morning – after a very good breakfast. I will always remember that morning food as we were deprived of any cooked food for previous three previous days. As we were walking to the bridge to cross the river, my assistant suggested that we should cross the river by walking across the waters. Even though we both will get wet up to chest high, he suggested that we could save more than 2 hours and do more survey in that time. The waters were freezing and were flowing at very high speed. After a brief thought and prayers I agreed with my trusted lieutenant. We both tied rope to each other around 5 feet apart, carried the waterproof camera bag and lunch pack on our heads and crossed the river with at most care. It took almost 3 minutes to cross the river of hardly 8 meters wide. The chill was unbearable, but we took each step with at most care so that none of us stumbled. I was taller than my assistant and was chest deep in water, not to mention about his apathy.

Across the river, we sat on the ground for drying our clothes. At those altitudes Sun is so bright and heavy winds make the clothes dry very fast. As we were there, my handkerchief put for drying flew away in a strong wind. My assistant chased it and got hold of it around 35 meters away. As he picked up the handkerchief, he spotted a batch of plants with pure white flowers. He, working with me for the previous six months became a very good orchid hunter and called up on me to come there and have a look.

I put few stones on the rest of the clothes so that winds will not dislocate it and went to my friend’s location. It was a total surprise to see those plants – the Alba of Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó., a variety never ever discovered. I can’t forget that first sight of those plants and the circumstances that made me discover it for the scientific world. But for those three rainy days and the crazy mind of both of us in crossing a chill cold fast flowing river, this variety would have went unnoticed at least for that flowering season.

The interesting second part of the find– documentation, turned out to be so hard in those windy and sunny conditions. We were forced to construct walls with our dress on three sides to prevent winds from oscillating the plants. Finally, after more than two hours of hard work I was able to produce documentary evidence of this variety to my satisfaction.

Reference:

The Alba variety of Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó., is a new report to the region as well to the family of orchidaceae.

Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 6 to 9 cm in height. Tuber single, 0.75 to 1 cm long and less than 0.75 cm in width at its widest part, ovate to orbicular, with 3 to 4 short and thick roots arising from it along with a few thin fibrous roots. Stem cylindrical, thick, arising from the apex of the bulb and less than one-third in height of the whole plant, covered with the petiole of the leaf and with a long clasping lanceolate sheath at its base. Leaf solitary, arising from the apex of the stem, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2 to 3 cm long and 1.2 cm in width at its widest part, sessile, base clasping and narrowed to a long petiole. Flowers two, arranged at the topmost portion of a long cylindrical and faintly ribbed terminal spike, secund.

The Flower

Flowers large, 2.5 to 3 cm long diagonally. Sepals un-equal, the dorsal much smaller than that of the lateral. Dorsal sepal oblanceolate, diagonally erect and not touching the petals, its base margins curved forward to form a wide boat like structure. Lateral sepals larger than the dorsal, ovate, spreading and curved upwards, margins undulate and sickle shaped at its base. Petals as long as the dorsal sepal, oblong to oval, curved forward with its apex overlapping or touching each other. Lip longer and wider than the lateral sepals, obcordate in outline, with faintly cut apex forming mid and side lobes; apex of both mid and side lobes rounded. Spur as long as the ovary and the lip, cylindrical, straight, slightly compressed. Floral bract lanceolate, erect, longer than the ovary but diminishing to less than half in length in the apex flower and arising from the upper base of it.

Stem pink at its base turning dark brown towards its apex, the sheath at the base of the stem is creamy white with brown reticulations. Floral spike pale green at its base and turning dark pink towards its apex.

Sepals and petals pink to dark rose. Lip of the same shade but with irregular dark shaded patches and white markings at its base surrounding the mouth of the spur. Spur pale pink. Ovary brownish pink. Floral bract dark brown to reddish brown.

Note: Described as Orchis chusua Don. var nana King and Pantling., by the authors in the Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 8:304 (1898), during their monumental work on orchids from the region of Sikkim-Himalayas. Later on, many authors moved the variety to Gymnadenia and Ponerorchis, with some retaining it as Orchis. According to present Kew Database on World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, the variety got merged with the Ponerorchis chusua (D.Don) Soó., which is entirely another plant growing at a different altitude and habitat with all together different characteristics. This author is of the concerned opinion, by discovering the variety again and conducting a detailed in-situ study, that the above variety should be described as Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó. (Reference: Acta Bot. Acad. Sci. Hung. 12:353 (1966)). Interestingly, the plant has its own Alba, thus making it a species by its own characteristics.

Ponerorchis nana (King and Pantling) Soó.

The Pursuit

A plant which went undocumented for some 125 years after its first report from the region of Sikkim-Himalayas. Even after several exploration and expedition trips year after year in the region by many research scholars, the variety remained untraced, thus was merged with its species form.

I was not able to find any related documents or photographs of this variety during my pre-survey work. However, the variety was a top priority in my list of pursuit.

After a thrilling trek I succeeded to find the species form, that too by the second half of the flowering season. As the flowering season would be over soon, I was of the opinion that the variety may not be found. By the end of the third month, I was regularly accompanied by a very kindhearted forest staff. We regularly took uphill drive, courtesy Army convoy, and surveyed many new areas every day. The results were amazing with many new finds.

We planned a trip to one of the most remote valleys of the region by the end of the third month. The valley was around 27 km of trek from the place of last motorable road. The only human settlements in the valley were of security people guarding the borders. Hence, entry and research into that valley were highly restricted and needed multiple permissions from various agencies. Luckily, I was granted permission to work there. However, the other official who accompanies me was denied permission by the authorities. Thus I was left all alone to work in that remote area.

It took almost 13 hours of trek for me to reach there. Even though I encountered many plants in flower, I was left with no option than walking as fast as I could, so to reach the camp before sun set. Next day morning, I ventured into the valley, a real botanical paradise. The long trek of the previous day has made my feet swollen; it was very difficult to fit both my feet into my boots. I was forced to borrow a bigger sized boot of a soldier from the camp. Even with those swollen feet I took a trek along the only stream of the valley. Thousands of flowers were in full bloom all along the river. I felt it would be better to crawl along the ground so that I would not miss any of those flowers. Interestingly no orchids were spotted for the first three hours of my survey in that new world.

As I was returning to the camp for lunch, I met a patrol party of soldiers returning to the camp after their routine border patrol. As always, soldiers raise a lot of question regarding any outsider’s visit. While explaining to them about my nature of duty, one of them took his mobile and shown me some photographs of flowers he had captured. I was so disappointed to see no orchid photograph from his hundreds of flower photographs. In return of his generosity, I took out my Ipad to show them my photograph collections of orchids. As they were going through the photographs, I explained to them what an orchid look like. Suddenly, he opened his mobile again to show a few other photographs he stored in another folder. They were only a few, but one of them, a damaged plant was like the one I was looking for – the variety which was unheard and unseen for more than a century. However, he was not able to remember from where he found the plant.

As I was determined to locate the plant, I planned my next three in such a way that I could cover most of the areas. The first day went without any trace of the plant even after surveying many miles. The second day was disrupted with morning showers, later on, the day became clear with sunshine and I was out to another location in search of the plant. The day ended without any success, even though some other interesting Alpine flowers were spotted.

On the third day, I went to a higher open meadow, which had a small lake in the middle. As I was walking along its bank, I spotted few very small plants with pink to rose flowers growing next to some small scattered rocks. They were hardly 5 to 7 cm in height. I never thought next moment I am going to create history by re-discovering a plant not found for more than a century. I went near to the plant and on close observation I was sure it was the one I was looking for. The find made me speechless; the joy boundless. I settled down on the ground to normalize my heartbeat and breathe and produced some real great photographs of the plant.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Orchis chusua Don. var nana King and Pantling., Page no 304.

Ponerorchis chusua (D.Don) Soó.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 12 to 26 cm in height. Tuber two, unequal and attached to each other with a small fleshy attachment, obelliptic to obovate, 1 to 1.5 cm long and about 1 cm in width at its widest part, naked. The new and small tuber developing to a matured one for the corresponding year. Stem arising from the apex of the matured tuber, almost two-third in height of the whole plant, cylindrical, naked and minutely narrowing towards its apex, faintly ribbed. Leaves two, unequal, arranged distance apart, 2 to 5 cm long and less than 1 cm in width, oblanceolate with broader base, sessile and clasping. The lower more than twice long as the upper one. Flowers 4 to 7 in a terminal spike much narrow than the stem, not secund.

The Flower

Flowers 2 to 2.5 cm long diagonally. Sepals un-equal; dorsal smaller than the lateral, lanceolate to ovate, arching over the petals, one nerved; lateral ovate with narrowing and wavy apex, spreading, three nerved. Petals slightly longer than the dorsal sepal, ovate, arranged forward with curving and over-lapping apex, one nerved. Lip distinctly and deeply three lobed, mid and side lobes as long as the lateral sepals; mid lobe narrow and short than the side lobes, oblong; lateral diverging, obelliptic with wider apex and sickle curve inner margins, apex margin with many wide round teeth. Spur longer than the lip and the ovary, slightly curved, cylindrical with wide base and apex, tip rounded. Leaf bract of varying size, diminishing towards the apex of the plant, lanceolate, erect or horizontal, 1 to 4 cm long and less than 1 cm in width, three nerved, arising from the upper base of the ovary.

Stem pale green reticulated with pink throughout, except near to the base of the two leaves, where it is pale green. Floral spike of a darker pinkish brown shade.

Sepals and petals pinkish white turning pale pink towards its apex with many irregular darker spots and markings. Lip of a darker pinkish shade throughout with a few distinct elongated spots on its base margining the mouth of the spur, the mid lobe also got few irregular markings of the same dark shade. Spur pinkish white at its base turning pale pink to its apex. Floral bract brownish green on its upper portion and pinkish brown on its lower portion.

The Pursuit

A beautiful small plant of the Alpine slopes, spread across half the length of the globe, from the mountains Siberia to the Himalayas. During my research time I searched many books by Indian “scientists” for a good documentary evidence (photograph) of this plant in vain. However, many lengthy articles were published on this species. As there was no proper documentary evidence for reference on this species, the species found a special mention in my list for the Alpine hunt.

King and Pantling had mentioned its altitude between 10,000 and 13,000 ft and blooming period as July and August. I moved to the high alpine areas by the first week of June and was working relatively in the lower altitudes during the first month. By July, I became very much accustomed with the high alpine region and was able to cover many unexplored regions and discovered several undocumented species. But, this one remained elusive. The description of the species and an analysis of its other habitats across the globe prompted me to concentrate on wet open slopes for the species. In the alpine region, the higher we go the drier the slopes are. However, the region in mention by King and Pantling comes in the wet zone, especially in the monsoon months between June and August.

Several days went by without a trace of the species. As those days were my first visit to the alpine zone, I was travelling all over the region every day. Repeated failures to locate the species in vain prompted me to assume that the species may have gone extinct. As the area I was covered was negligible in comparison to the vast Himalayas, I was certain I would find it from another habitat. Hence, I moved to another location in pursuit of the species.

On the fifth day at my new location, during our breakfast meeting my local guide informed about an open valley surrounded by very high mountains. He also explained to me the difficult climb up an 18,450 ft high pass to reach the location. I was eager to visit the location, however the guide was very much reluctant to accompany. It took a couple of days to convince him to accompany me. Another two days also went past in organising the journey including yaks to carry tent and other necessary food items for the 6 day up and down trek and a couple of days stay in the valley. The journey was very tedious; the uphill climb was very hard. We were able to trek hardly for 4 hours a day. On the second day, we camped at the top of the pass at 18,450 ft. While pitching tent, the strong winds blew our tent downhill. We were forced to spend the remaining part of the day and night inside the erected tent, so that our weight would prevent the winds from blowing away the tent. On the third day, we descended down to the valley to a much lower altitude of around 16,750 ft, which was more than 20 to 25 sq. km. wide. Even though, the trek was tedious and hard, I found a couple of rare species during this trek.

Early next morning, I started my pursuit in this new habitat, thus becoming the first botanist to step foot there. As the valley was surrounded by high hills, there were no winds; the air was steady. Even the percentage of oxygen was high, easing our breath. The first two hours went enjoying various flora of the new “world” and documenting some other Alpine flowers. As I was surveying the banks of a narrow stream, I stumbled across a patch of this species with most of them in bloom. The plants were with unnoticeably small narrow leaves and wide pink flowers. They were all growing near to each other thus making a carpet of pale pink. The habitat was about 12 to 15 ft wide and some 20 ft in length. Even though not precise, I counted about 45 specimens in that habitat. To select a few plants to document from a beautiful set of plants was always a very difficult task. Each one seems to be better than the other.

Finally, I zeroed on seven plants for study and documentation and produced some perfect documentary evidences, probably for the first time in the history of the species from the region. We spent another six days there re-discovering another few species, thus creating history. The return journey was made very tedious with the blessings of the rain god.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Orchis chusua Don., Page no 303/304.