Tag: memoirs of an orchid hunter

Bulbophyllum careyanum (Hook.) Spreng.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Pseudo-bulbs ovoid, ribbed, erect, 1.5 to 2 cm long and 1 to 1.3 cm in diameter, attached to a woody stout rhizome either close together or at a a distance of around 2 cm apart. Leaf fleshy, oblong, tapering on both ends, sub-sessile, apex notched, 6 to 14 cm long and 1.2 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in a scape arising from the side of the pseudo-bulb, 2 to 3 cm long and clothed with many lanceolate dried bracts, raceme decurved, densely flowered, 9 to 12 cm long.

The Flower

Flowers small, about 1.2 cm long, pedicellate. Sepals unequal, dorsal very small, oblong; lateral more than twice longer than the dorsal, ovate, acute, converging at its apex. Petals small, broadly triangular. Lip half the size of the lateral sepals, curved, disc channelled from its base to the middle, edges minutely ciliolate. Column with two apical teeth. Floral bracts longer than the ovary, lanceolate.

The outer surface of the sepals are of shinning brown with even darker marks throughout, inner side is pinkish brown with uneven darker markings. Petals pinkish brown. Lip reddish pink fading to its apex and margins. Column brilliant yellow. Pedicel bright red, scape greenish red, floral bracts pale brown.

Bulbophyllum careyanum, (Hook.) Spreng.
Bulbophyllum careyanum (Hook.) Spreng.

The Pursuit

A very interesting plant as well as flower of the region. In the monumental referral work of King and Pantling, the authors added a special paragraph to describe this species and its allied ones. However, they mentioned the altitudinal range of the species as “warm valleys” only. The altitudinal range and the blooming period are the two key factors that help in locating each species. The advantage I acquired about this species was the illustration of Pantling in the referral book, the drawing was excellent and the uniqueness of its pseudo-bulb attracted my attention. I took the unique shape as a reference and was searching for the species. In 2013, during the summer months I was stationed in a tropical warm forest with my work. During the survey work, I noticed few clumps of an orchid on the main trunk of some tall trees growing close by to each other. The plants were around 20 to 25 high and I was not able to study them from ground level. On observation with binoculars I noticed the unique shape of the pseudo-bulbs, but one important description of the plant by King and Pantling never matched, “pseudo-bulbs erect, ovoid, ribbed, about 3 in. apart……”. The bulbs of those plants I found were not 3 inches apart, most of them were arranged close together. As the blooming time of the plant was mentioned October, November and December in the referral book, I decided to mark the location and visit them in the next winter months. It is always advisable to re-visit unidentified plants once in ten or fifteen days to make sure they are not in bloom. However, I could not make those regular visits possible as I normally spend the months between May and October in the high alpine regions.

When I was back from the Alpine zone in the mid of October, I remembered about this species and the first trip was made to this location. To my surprise I found few fully developed racemes with almost matured buds ready to open. As the flowers were about 20 to 25 feet high and getting or making a ladder of that height was impossible, we thought of some other ideas. Near to the location, there was a new home being constructed and they had just removed the bamboo support from the concrete of its first floor. With the help of those workers we made a temporary stilt platform and sitting on that I produced this wonderful photograph. Also, I was also able to update the fact that the pseudo-bulbs bulbs of this species can grow close together as well as in a distance as described by the authors.

Reference:

Bulbophyllum careyanum Spreng., Page no 71 – 72  of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Arundina graminifolia (D.Don) Hochr.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Plant with varying height, from 2.25 to 9 ft. Stem erect, reed like woody structure, around 1.5 to 2.5 cm in width. Leaves many, alternatively arranged, membranous, acuminate, sessile, clasping, sheathed at the base, 4 to 12 cm long and 1.25 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in branched racemose, many flowered.

The Flower

Flowers large, 3 to 5 cm across. Sepals unequal, dorsal erect, oblong; lateral parallel to each other, underneath the lip, lanceolate, one nerved. Petals broader than the sepals, rhomboid with pointed apex, spreading, one nerved. Lip variable, portion between its base and mouth convolute round the column, mouth large and spreading, deeply bifid, with numerous parallel veins. The disc with three lamellae.

Flower colour varies from plant to plant. Sepals, petals and the convolate portion of the lip are with shades of pink. The spreading mouth is of a darker shade, with many veins.

Arundina graminifolia, (D.Don) Hochr.
Arundina graminifolia (D.Don) Hochr.

The Pursuit

My first journey uphill the Kalimpong-Sikkim road from Siliguri was in a hired vehicle – over loaded with too much luggage inside and poring heavily outside. Through the foggy windowpane, I spotted this plant in bloom with many of them in flower. To be frank, in those days I was not aware of the abundance of this species and its relatively longer blooming season. Hence, I wanted to document those flowers then and there. It was raining heavily and removing the camera and accessories from the fully loaded luggage inside the vehicle was not so easy. Out of curiosity I made our vehicle stop there and observed the flowers thoroughly. There were many flowers of brilliant pink colour. The driver was kind enough to pull down the luggage and help me in getting all those instruments needed for the shoot. However, the need of the hour, the umbrella was not traceable. It was in one of the suitcases but we were not able to locate it.

As it was the first species I had located I was utterly disappointed to leave the documentation undone. As we were about to leave, I spotted two people walking towards the other side with umbrellas. As they approached our car, I made a very polite request to borrow their umbrella in Hindi, which was promptly translated to Nepali by my driver. They obliged happily. My driver made both of them sit in our vehicle and we took their umbrellas and produced a few photographs – of course not so technically perfect ones!!!

Later on, in my entire four years in the hills, I had spotted this species several hundred times from many locations. Each of them shows its own colour pattern; hence I document this species almost every time I got an opportunity.

Reference:

Arundina bambusifolia Lindl., Page no 113 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Esmeralda clarkei Rchb.f.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Stem 4 to 7 feet long, stout, pendulous, roots thick and long. Leaves arranged alternatively, oblong, sessile, with sheathed and clasping base, bifid at the apex, 5 to 8 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in leaf opposed stout 12 to 16 cm long racemes.

The Flower

Flowers very attractive, large, around 3 to 4 cm across, 4 to 5 in numbers, attached in  distance and arising from a node like structure in the raceme enclosed in a clasping bract. Sepals unequal; dorsal oblong and blunt, erect; lateral oblong, falcate, spreading. Petals slightly shorter and narrower than the lateral sepals, oblong, minutely arching down, spreading. Margins of sepals and petals towards their apex are curved up ending in a deflexed beak tip.

Sepals and petals are yellowish brown up to two-third of its length from the base, with broad chestnut brown half broken horizontal bands, the upper one-third  totally chestnut brown. Lip yellowish brown to orange base throughout, the side lobes of the hypochile with chestnut brown vertical bands, its disc white with two brilliant brown elongated patches; epichile with white diverging bands. The apex of the anther with pinkish brown margins.

Esmeralda clarkei, Rchb.f.
Esmeralda clarkei Rchb.f.

The Pursuit

Undoubtedly, this one of the most beautiful orchid flower of the region. As the saying goes, “beauty is sometimes a curse” is most appropriate for this species as it was collected in plenty for trade due to its beauty, thus making it almost on the verge of extinction from the wild. I had seen this species in bloom in many houses and nurseries of the region, but there was something missing in those flowers. Although King and pantling used to the term “magnificent” to describe the flowers of this genus, I felt they are gloomy.

I was determined to find this species from its natural habitat. More importantly, I am the only person who had documented and studied the other two species of this genus from the region; hence it was more important for me to find this species also. (Note: In the days of King and Pantling, there were three species under Arachnanthe genus from the region).

I know a couple of places of its nearest ally of this species, Esmeralda cathcartii (Lindl) Rchb. My initial thoughts of finding this species in those locations were not right. King and Pantling’s mention about this species growing at higher altitudes than its ally and blooms in a different season made me shift my search to some other locations. I searched vast areas inside a semi tropical forest for weeks. During that search I found many other species but this one remained elusive. The search month coincided with many religious festivals of the region and getting somebody to accompany me was really impossible. All my accomplices were either on official or “unofficial” leave. As the region was inside a protected area and with enough wildlife, venturing inside all alone was not allowed. Even though the region of Sikkim-Himalayas is very small in area, there are many places where no humans have ever ventured. It is interesting to note that many of theses places are inside protected areas, which are to be monitored regularly by its staff in the form of patrols. Taking into consideration the blooming time of the species and my curiosity to find it, the in-charge official of the area somehow arranged a casual official to accompany me for a few days. He was such a lazy man; we never got along very nicely. However, as the saying goes, “something is better than nothing”, I took advantage of his presence and went deep inside the unexplored areas. The search went on for several days without any success. But I never gave up, one day as we were returning to the base camp in a patrol trek, I found two long pendulous stems of this species swinging in the light evening breeze right above our head from a huge tree. The stems were more than 6 feet long and curved down. It was a joyous moment of my entire days there. I never thought I would find the species with such ease. As the days were very short during those months we decided to return to the camp and come back next day to study the plant. Next day we were there before afternoon, and found there were 6 buds coming up and it would take quite some time to be in flower. I visited the plant several times in the next one month to see them in bloom and produced this wonderful photograph.

The area is a habitat of many bears and leopards. There was a recent report of a leopard attack on a patrolling party. However, with the grace of the Almighty in the almost 48 days I worked there, I never encountered any big wild animals.

Reference:

Arachnanthe clarkei Rolfe., Page no 209 – 210 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl. – the alba form.

The Plant

Almost the space as that of the species one, but with relatively larger pseudo-bilbs and longer leaves and peduncle. Flowers 4 to 5, laxly arranged in distance.

The Flower

Sepals, petals and lip pure white. Anther bright yellow, ovary pale green, floral bract brown.

Anthogonium gracile, Wall. ex Lindl - the white form
Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl – the white form.

The Pursuit

In the monumental publication, King and Pantling noted, “A white-flowered variety is not uncommon”. However, this white form was not much reported or documented from the region. That made this white form one of the most sought orchid from the region for me.

As the rose coloured species are available in plenty, almost everywhere, it is a familiar species to the local population. However, due to its peculiar shape most of the people cannot relate it as an orchid! Wherever I went for other species during those months, I was asking everyone about the white coloured one, without any success.

In the year 2012, I was working in the alpine areas of Sikkim-Himalayas between May and October. As the road connectivity always got blocked due to monsoon-triggered landslides I seldom came to the plains during those days. In those alpine areas there are not much of private transport available and I totally depended on Army vehicles to shuttle between places. In the month of September, I was forced to make a trip to the State capital in connection with finalizing some publications. I took an early morning army vehicle, which was going to their base camp in the town downhill. Those huge trucks are built for those terrains and are the safest mode of transport on those hilly terrains. As we crossed the half way, the walkie talkie in the cabin relayed message of a landslide a few kilometers ahead and asked the vehicle to return to its starting point. As there were some officials who have to board a train to their home that very same evening, they requested the pilot of the vehicle to drop them up to the landslide point. After getting permission from the higher authorities he took us to the landslide area. The slide was about 80 ft long and the road was covered with almost 4 to 5 ft high mud and many rocks. As I have to attend the meeting next day, I decided to take the risk and cross the landslide on foot and get another lift from the other side. The road was totally covered with mud and in some places my legs sunk in the slug up to my knees. I was muddy all over from my shoes to my cap. Somehow, with the help of many others I walked the entire landslide and reached the other side. Went to the stream ahead washed the clothes and shoes without much success. Waited with hope for a vehicle to go downhill. As the message of the slide was relayed over walkie talkie, the check post downhill prevented any vehicle movement and those people who crossed the slide were stranded there. As I was with very little luggage I decided to walk down hill to the nearest town, which was about 16 km away.

As I was walking down hill, I started spotting many of those rose coloured flowers of this species on both the sides of the road. I was concentrating on both sides for any colour variations with a hope that I will find the white one. As I was taking a sharp turn, made by cut opening a projection of the rocky hill, I spotted few white flowers on the left side of the road at a height of about 20 to 25 ft. The sides were full of undergrowth and spotting them was very difficult. I tried to climb that side, but it was almost vertical and climbing up was impossible. My efforts to find a long bamboo to clear the undergrowths from the road and identify those white flowers also met with no success. As I was wondering what to do next to reach the flowers, I heard the sound of army trucks coming up the hill. They were going with porters and helpers to clear the land slide and open the road for traffic. Luckily, I knew the personnel on the first army vehicle and they stopped by to inquire about the landslide. Then I requested the pilot of that vehicle to move his truck to the right side of the road, so that I can climb on the top of its cabin and reach out to those flowers. He obliged with a firm reply that he could spare just a couple of minutes. I climbed up the cabin and cleared some undergrowths and was happy to identify the white form of this species. As the trucks have to go to clear the slide and open the road for traffic, I climbed down immediately to let them go. Then I decided to stay back in the downhill town for the day and come to those flowers next day with proper arrangements for the documentation.

Next day, I hired a vehicle and arranged a long ladder and proceeded to the location and with the help of the driver, climbed up the ladder and cleared some undergrowths and documented the plants. They were altogether 6 plants with 16 flowers and 7 buds. Most of the flowers were fresh and I selected this particular one and produced this wonderful photograph.

Reference:

Anthogonium gracile Lindl., Page no 96 – 97 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial, but often found growing as lithophyte also. Pseudo bulb small, ovoid, partially buried in the ground (if terrestrial). Stem narrow, 6 to 18 cm long, sheathed at the base. Leaves 2 to 6, many nerved, long, with parallel edges and pointed apex, sessile, base sheathing, 6 to 15 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm in width. Flowers in peduncle arising from the lower side of the pseudo bulb, longer than the leaves, 1 or rarely more, raceme very rarely branched. Ovary ribbed and long stalked, with a narrow lanceolate, clasping floral bract arising from its lower side.

The Flower

Flowers many, 5 to 24, laxly arranged. Non-resupinate. Flowers 1.5 to 2 cm across with long-stalked ovary. Sepals unequal, dorsal oblong; lateral ovate, twice wider than the dorsal; connate at their bases to form a narrow cylindric tube. Petals oblong, smaller than the lateral sepals, the base attached inside the tube. Sepals and petals single veined. The base of the lip attached to the column, tubular, apex wide open.

Sepals and petals rose to pink coloured. The mouth of the lip white, disc and side lobes with many pinkish dark spots, anther a brilliant yellow, ovary pinkish brown, floral bract brown.

Anthogonium gracile, Wall. ex Lindl.
Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl.

The Pursuit

As the monsoon settles down in the month of August, the open land, slopes, rocks of the sub-tropical forests are full of this species. They cover the entire area and within few weeks start blooming. Its blooming phenomenon continues for two more months thus enabling a wide range of audience to enjoy its beauty. I had spotted these plants in plenty by the end of monsoon from many locations and waited for them to bloom.

Even though widely documented, the colour variations and markings inside its lip were not properly documented earlier. Hence, I decided to document this species in detail for further references. As the flower is non-resupinate, with its lip pointing upwards, the dark markings on its disc is apparently invisible with all published photographs. Hence, I decided to take a low angle shot to make those markings visible. For the same I was looking for a few plants growing at a height of about 6 to 7 ft from the ground with its stem erect and stretching outward. Even though the species was in plenty in that location, one with all features of my imagination was difficult to find. After a couple of hours of search I found a few plants growing on a rock next to a small stream. The plants were on the outer side of the rock and projecting outwards. Their height was also very much suitable for my low angle shots. Stepping into the knee-deep water of that small stream I produced this low angle shot of the species with full details of its disc markings and colour variations.

Reference:

Anthogonium gracile Lindl., Page no 96 – 97 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Rhynchostylis retusa Blume.

The Plant

Epiphyte. A robust plant with stout erect stems, spreading decurved leaves and thick long roots. Stem clothed in the sheaths of dried leaves of previous season, 15 to 35 cm in height and 2 to 3 cm in width. Leaves 4 to 12, with equitant bases, keeled, bilobed, 20 to 35 cm in length and around 2 cm in width. Flowers in curved pendulous racemes arising from the base of the leaves, densely flowered.

The Flower

Peduncle short with a few small sheaths, raceme 12 to 30 cm long, ribbed. Flowers 1.5 to 2 cm across, attached in 1 to 1.5 cm long pedicels, sepals unequal, dorsal oblong, erect; lateral broadly ovate, much larger than the dorsal, blunt, lower margin slightly undulate, spreading. Petals narrower than the dorsal sepals, oblanceolate, blunt and spreading. Lip right angled, with its base narrow and channelled, margins bend upwards; the apex broadly retuse, side margins curved up and the disc with two short and narrow lamella like projections. Spur short, almost rectangular in shape and compressed. Floral bracts very small, lanceolate, attached on the upper side of the slightly curved and ribbed pedicels.

Sepals and petals white to pale pink with many irregular horizontal dark pink markings, more to their apexes. Lip of two shades, its base white to pale pink, disc dark pink, spur and pedicel pale pink, the latter with a darker shade to its apex. Floral bract brown.

Rhynchostylis retusa, Blume.
Rhynchostylis retusa Blume.

The Pursuit

This species is nicknamed as “Foxtail Orchid” and is the State flower of the neighboring state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is a very important region in the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot blessed with more orchids than that of Sikkim-Himalayas.

This plant attracts the attention of one and all even without in flowers because of its appearance and leaf pattern. There are many varieties of this species, with much colour variations through out the tropical region of the Eastern Himalayas. King and Pantling in their monumental publication had illustrated and described a specimen of this species from the region of Sikkim-Himalayas, this helped me to narrow down and search this species from the tropical valleys of Sikkim-Himalayas only. As the plant is very robust in nature and can be found in many locations, the only matter left was to be there at the right time of its flowering. By the mid of April, I observed racemes arising in many plants. Made several visits to those spots and finally by the mid of May they all started blooming. When the flowers are in plenty, it is very difficult to choose a perfect one. In circumstances like that I always prefer those flowers, which are easy to be reached. Hence, I selected a plant from a relatively smaller tree and produced this wonderful photograph.

As this species produces a number of colour varieties I documented several specimens later on from various regions to study its colour patterns. They all have one thing in common, elegance!!!

Reference:

Rhynchostylis retusa Blume., Page no 213 – 214 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Acrochaene punctata Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs crowded, ovoid, arranged very close to each other, attached to a stout rhizome with many thick long roots; bulbs brownish and coriaceous during flowering. Leafs oblong, obtuse, 7 to 12 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm in width, emarginate, narrowed to both ends, the base into a long petiole of about 4 to 7 cm long. Flowers in slightly decurved peduncles, arising from the base of withered bulbs, pendulous, arranged laxly. Peduncle with two erect, large, spathulate bracts at its base.

The Flower

Flowers 12 to 20;  2 to 2.25 m across, peduncle with two large spathulate, erect bracts at its base. Sepals unequal, dorsal elliptic, acute, erect; lateral pair broadly triangular, sub-acute, the lower margin undulate and slightly bent upward, seven veined. Petals smaller than the dorsal sepal, narrowly triangular, fimbriate, spreading, three to five veined. Lip as long as the petals, attached with a large curved claw at its base, side lobes erect, apical lobe tongue-shaped, with a deep partition from the base to almost middle. Floral bracts half to one-third size of the curved pedicel, attached to its upper side, lanceolate with broad base.

Flower, peduncle and its basal bracts are of a greenish base with purplish brown streaks and dots through out. Sepals pale green with numerous purplish brown dots to its apex. Petals of the same shade as that of the sepals but with broader purplish dots on the margins, fimbria bright green with purple markings. Lip with a darker shade than that of sepals and petals at the apex and turning paler to the base, its apical lobe with several large irregular brownish spots. The outer surface of the flower with pale green shade with numerous unequal brown dots and streaks. Floral bracts pale brown with darker irregular markings.

Acrochaene punctata, Lindl.
Acrochaene punctata Lindl.

The Pursuit

This species is very rarely found from the region. I had studied this species in detail from the referral book of King and Pantling. Its pseudo bulbs are arranged very closely and has a stout rhizome with thick roots, with bulbs coriaceous in texture – were the features I had chosen to locate this plant. As most of the trees will be devoid of any monsoon climbers in the winter months, it was very easy to search for small plants like this species. One afternoon, my assistant and me were in a thick-forested area of a wildlife sanctuary at an altitude of around 4800 ft. We were there looking for few plants blooming in the winter months including this species.

My assistant, who belongs to an indigenous community of the region, has the knack of imitating the sound of birds. He always imitates the sound of some or other birds to bring them out from hiding. Instead of looking for orchids he then observes those birds through my binoculars and describes their colours, shapes etc to me. As it interrupts my purpose of visit, I always discouraged him from this sort of distractions. The same afternoon, he was making the sound of a particular bird, he had observed several times there. His sound made a male bird of that species come out from its hiding and it started reciprocating the calls made by him. His curiosity made him observe the bird through my binoculars. His descriptions of bright red feathers, yellow beak provoked me to observe the bird through the binocular. I was panning the binocular to locate the bird and my view got stuck on a bunch of orchid plants around 40 to 50 ft high on a tree next to the bird. The view from that position was good to observe the bird but not the orchids. So I moved ahead to the other side of the tree for a good look, which disturbed the bird, and it flew away making my assistant bit unhappy. He also came to help me to the other side of the tree and to our surprise it was this species, that also with several peduncle in buds. My assistant was a very good climber and whenever he is with me I always felt comfortable. We both were up the tree and studied the plant and decided to make another visit after 6 days.

On the sixth day, we were again there. My assistant making those bird cries again, but the bird never turned up on that day. At the top of the tree, we found only a few of them in bloom and decided to come back after 2 days. On the third visit my assistant was unable to be with me and I went all-alone to the location. Trekking those deep forests and climbing those heights without any assistance, also with cameras and accessories was very difficult, but the curiosity of having a new specimen documented makes the trek as well as the climb go on. On that day except one peduncle rest everything was in bloom and I produced this beautiful photograph of the species.

Moral: Respect the qualities and skills of everybody around.

Reference:

Acrochaene punctata Lindl., Page no 153 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Habenaria furcifera Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 1.5 to 2 ft in height. Stem narrow. Leaves 4 to 7 arranged on the lower portion of the stem, with the middle ones larger, elliptic, acute, with sheathing bases and undulate margins, veined, 6 to 14 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm in width. Peduncle with 10 to 14 erect, lanceolate and clasping leafy bracts diminishing in size to the apex. Flowers many, laxly arranged in a spike of 8 to 12 cm long. Tubers ovoid.

The Flower

Flowers large and slightly drooping. Dorsal sepal concave, ovate to oblong, arched; lateral sepals lanceolate, acute, spreading. Petals are of the same size of the dorsal petal, oblong,  connivent with the later to form a hood. Lip long and tri-segmented; lateral pair filiform, longer than the middle, diverging and with narrowing tips. Middle segment broad and blunt. Spur laterally compressed, longer than the arched ovary, stout at the base and curved up at its apex. Bracts arising from the under side of the ovary and longer than it, erect and lanceolate.

Flower green throughout, with sepals of darker shade than the petals. Lip and spur are of pale green.

Habenaria furcifera, Lindl.
Habenaria furcifera Lindl.

The Pursuit

This species has a special place in my heart. This is one of the few species I studied in my early days of research from Sikkim-Himalayas. Moreover, it is a very elusive species to find, relatively rare to find from the region.

For my work, I moved from the scorching heat of mainland Delhi to the monsoon hit Himalayas. Getting accustomed to the region, its climate and the fieldwork were of great difficulty. I had to get used to heavy rains, landslides, roadblocks, leeches, homesickness etc. I overcame these difficulties and went for pursuits everyday. On that particular day, I was concentrating on a hill near to my base camp apparently to avoid long journeys through the landslide prone roads. We went up the hill in our vehicle and were trekking down through the forested area in the valley. The heavy rains on the previous days made the whole trek route slippery and made it very difficult to walk down hill. My assistant and I had many slips and falls on that slope. We decided to leave the trek route and walk through the forested area, which was fully covered with fresh undergrowth. As we walked over the forest our choice would avert further slips and falls, but would damage or destroy many plants. Those were my initial days in the field and I was not so conscious about those matters. As we were negotiating through 2 to 3 ft high undergrowth, I found a very small plant of this species with few buds. The plant was just 14.3 cm high, with 11 buds and 3 small leaves. As I got the whole of King and Pantling’s monumental book in my Ipad, it enabled me to identify the species immediately. As it was in bud, my assistant and I decided to have a detailed survey on that slope for more specimens of this plant. The whole we searched the valley without anymore finds. It started raining by 2:30 PM and we returned to our camp. Luckily, next day was a day with no rains. We went to the other side of the hills. That side was steeper with river Teesta flowing around 1400 ft below us and the hunt was very risky. In that type of terrain for safety reasons I would secure myself with a rope tied on to my waist with its other end tied around a strong tree. The rope I use was of 18 ft length and its length will further get reduced by another 7 ft when it is secured on both ends. Hence, the search area will be reduced to just 10 feet only, but it is an unavoidable safety decree. To cover that whole mountain slope, we tied and untied the rope many times on that day to find another specimen of this species. Luckily there were two plants in bloom, with fresh flowers. As I was sure that coming down to the spot again will be a matter of concern I wanted to have one of the best photographs. With strong winds blowing, hanging down on the hill slope secured by a rope, was a very unpleasant situation to produce technically perfect photographs. But somehow I succeeded. I still remember the chill that went down my spine on looking down at the river Teesta flowing below.

Reference:

Habenaria furcifera Lindl., Page no 313 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Peristylus constrictus (Lindl.) Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant between 2 to 2.5 ft high, with the lower one third being the stem and the rest the flowering spike. Stem stout with 2 or 3 wide blunt sheaths on its lower portion and 5 to 8 leaves in a whorl around its apex. Leaves ovate-elliptic, upper and lower ones relatively smaller than the others, 4 to 7 cm long and 2 to 2.5 cm in width, acute, long sheathed and clasping, with noticeable veins and broad pale yellow margins. Spike with 2 or 3 lanceolate and acuminate bracts. Tuber oblong, hairy, 2 to 5 cm long and 1 cm in cross section.

The Flower

Flowers many and densely arranged in a spike, each 1.5 to 2 cm across. Sepals sub-equal, lateral three times longer than the dorsal; dorsal broad, lanceolate and arching; lateral pair spreading, oblong, obtuse, with undulate margins and folded inwardly. Petals larger than the dorsal sepal, obliquely ovate, lanceolate, with a winged outward extension on its base, internal edges slightly overlapping. Lip longer than the lateral sepals, three lobed; oblong with blunt apex, side lobes slightly longer than the middle one but narrow, lobes three veined. Spur very small, globular. Bracts erect, lanceolate, acuminate, longer than the ovary.

Sepals pale brownish pink with very minute white margins. Petals pure white. Bracts greenish brown.

Peristylus constrictus, (Lindl.) Lindl.
Peristylus constrictus (Lindl.) Lindl.

The Pursuit

One of the beautiful terrestrial orchids of Sikkim-Himalayas. It was once a common species, presently on the verge of extinction due to habitat loss and over collection from the region. Even though several researchers had documented this species, it took me more than three years to find it from its natural habitat.

I was aware about its blooming cycle from various century old publications. The plant appears along with the early monsoon showers and blooms within a month. I was concentrating for this species on both the banks of river Teesta. During the pursuit of this species I was able to cross over the river Teesta several times at different locations, even during the monsoons. Several of its earlier habitats were destroyed due to construction of dams over the river Teesta.

The day I found this species of the find of this species, I got a good company in the form of a Forest Guard who was earlier posted in that region. He had made many treks inside those forests to trace out poachers; hence he was very familiar about river crossing and the general geography of the region. He guided me very well inside the deep forest and we did a long day of survey finding many species including six young plants of this species. The plants were still so young, my initial calculation was that it would take another 15 to 20 days for them to bloom. The Forest Guard promised that he would try to accompany me in my next trip also.  After two weeks when I contacted him, he was attending an official training program, which would not be over in another 10 days; hence I was left alone with the pursuit. As I was aware about the fact, that when the dams over the river Teesta were fully functional I will never be able to cross to the other side and will hopefully never see this plant again, made me undertake the trip all by myself the very next day. The first part of the journey – crossing the river was done without much difficulty. But, inside the forest I lost the track of those six plants. I attempted different tracks and location, but was unable to locate those plants. Totally disappointed I returned to my camp. On the next day also, I tried without any success. In between I found some other species, but for what I went there remained elusive.

After a week, my good friend called me and said he is back home from training and ready to make a trip. I reached his home the next day as early as I could and immediately left for the search. After around 1 hr and 45 minutes of walk, much before the location of those six plants we sighted earlier, we found two new specimens of the species in full bloom. It was a wonderful sight to see this almost pure white flower in full bloom with the green foliage in background. Interestingly, in my two previous visits I took a break of more than 15 minutes at that same location but had failed to spot them. We decided to skip the other habitat and document the present ones and shot this beautiful photograph of the species.

Now, with the dam fully functional and river water up by more than 30 to 40 ft, the entire region is under water, bringing death to thousands of plant species and the main river of the Sikkim-Himalayas.

Reference:

Habenaria constricta Wall. ex Hook., Page no 325 – 326 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Peristylus aristatus Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 12 to 18 cm high with sender stem. Leaves sub-equal, 3 to 4 in number with the middle ones the largest, elliptic, narrowed to the base, stalkless, 3 to 5 cm long and less than 1.5 cm in width. Spike narrow than the stem, about 7 to 10 cm long. Tubers oblong to cylindric.

The Flower

Flowers in a narrow spike, small, laxly arranged. Sepals sub-equal, linear; lateral pair pointing upwards, dorsal arching. Petals as long as the lateral sepals, connivent with the dorsal sepal. Lip longer than the sepals and petals, three lobed. The middle segment linear, slightly shorter but broader than the lateral ones; lateral pair filiform and spreading with upward curving edges. Spur longer than the lip but shorter than the erect ovary, variable in shape – clavate or fusiform, curved. Floral bract lanceolate and slightly shorter than the ovary, clasping.

The whole flower is green in colour.

Peristylus aristatus
Peristylus aristatus Lindl.

The Pursuit

A small plant of the region. Even though King and Pantling mentioned this plant in their monumental work, somehow I missed it. I can’t even remember an instance of reading its descriptions from the reference book.

I was camping in a sub-tropical forest at an altitude between 4800 to 6000 ft in the monsoon season of 2012. I had a long list of plants that required searching almost everyday. My team and me worked every day 8 to 10 hours in the region, walking around 25 to 30 km. On one Sunday, I was making a casual survey around 11:30 Hrs and was walking downhill on a narrow trek road to the village. The trek road was on the side of a cliff with tall bamboo forest on the cliff side and a small stream about 40 ft down on the other side. The trek road was hardly of 3 ft in width, hence going up and down that way needs at-most caution. As I was walking downhill, a group of children of an uphill village were returning to their homes after attending prayers at the village church. They were all in colourful and bright dresses. Their colourful dress along with the dark monsoon clouds in the horizon prompted the artist within me to take a few photographs of them. The children were so excited that they were posing in different animated ways. I was aware of the stream on the side of the trek road and to avoid anybody accidentally falling down, asked them to climb up the bamboo forest to have some photo shoots. As I wanted the dark monsoon clouds in the background, I asked few of them to climb a rock inside the bamboo forest, so that I can have a low angle shot with clouds in the background. I was looking for a good position to kneel down for the low angle without destroying any plants on the ground. Then I stumbled upon four specimens of this species in full bloom next to the rock. I was surprised to see those plants, at the same lucky that none of the children who walked in front of me stepped on them. Since I was unable to remember the illustrations of the species from the referral book, I was not able to identify it instantaneously. As the children had to reach their homes before the rains, I first took their photos and then concentrated on the new find.

As the flowers were in full bloom, I was unaware of its identity. I made detailed drawings and took several photographs from all possible angles in order to establish its identification. I was documenting the four plants for long time and was unaware of the looming rain clouds. Finally, as the rain started pouring down I packed up my camera bag and started walking back to my camp.

While back at the camp, I found out from King and Pantling’s work the identity of the plant. I thanked the Almighty, those children and the rain clouds for that wonderful find of that day. The next Sunday, I cancelled all my programs and waited for those children with my pocket full of toffees. The only thing which was not there was the “heavenly blessings” – the rain and the rain clouds.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden.(Calcutta). Habenaria aristata Hook., Page no 312.