Trachycarpus takil in the wild.
Well now I am back from 3 months of India and Nepal and I got some nice pictures of Trachycarpus takil from near the Kalamuni Pass. I went to Munsiyari at 2290 meter in Uttarakhand to see them in the wild. It is a remote part of India and it took a whole day to get there from Banbassa on the border with Nepal. And It was at the end of my trip so I had only 2 days to see the palms. So from Banbassa I took an early bus to Pittoragarh and from there a collective taxi to Munsiyari where I arrived when it was allready dark. And the way up to the Kalamuni Pass was quite frigthening with the deep precipice just next to the road and the thunderstorm! But there where also the first Trachycarpus takil to be seen before it got completely dark. Well fortunately I arrived save and well at a hotel in Munsiyari.
The next morning I had a look arround in the village and spotted 1 big old T. takil in a garden behind an old house.
I also had made some prints of 'Takil at the roof of the world' to show the local people and where to find it. Another species of palm, Phoenix sylvestris is found much lower down in the warmer subtropical vallys. But that a common palm. But for the locals the difference is not always clear so good pictures are vital.
At the opposite of my hotel I found a good guide, Narendra Kumar, whom knew strait where to find them. It was near the Kalamuni Pass 15 km from Munsiyari. So with a taxi it was a 10 minute drive to the Kali temple at the Kalamuni Pass at 2700 meters where there was a path to a vally where Trachycarpus takil was to be found. From the road you also had a good view on the Panchachuli Peak. That part of India was certainly one of the best I have seen!
From the temple we followed a path at a mountainridge till about a couple of hundreds meters there was a trail at the rght side wich led down. From that point I started to look at the opposite slope with my binoculair and saw the first palms! So we followed the path down and soon the first one was just next to the path at arround 2500 meters. And more palms to follow lower down! It was qiut a steep path and not without danger! Lose rocks or a wrong step could easely led to accidents. So it was good to go with a guide.
I did see the common birdwing there, Troides helena and heard at the same time the common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus like backhome in Leidschendam!
The weather could not be better with a blue sky and 28 degrees! And the weather can be very differend in that area as the previous evening had shown with thunder and hailstorms!
About the vegetation wich grows together with the palms.
A map of the Kalamuni Area with the dens mixed forest of evegreen oaks, deciduous trees and several conifers like Cupressus torulosa.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9827257 ... a=!3m1!1e3Here a link:
munsyaritrekkinginformationcenter.
Trees I saw there where:
Cupressus torulosa
Abies pindrow?
Quercus semicarpifolia and another oak.
Aesculus indica
Betula alnoides
Juglans regia
Shrubs:
Rhododendron niveum? (red flowers)
Deutzia staminea?
Berberis, 2 species
Rosa, 2 species
Rubus paniculatus, a kind of raspberry
Cotoneaster
Viburnum erubescens
Sarcococca
Clematis
Other plants:
Rubus
Bergenia ciliata
Origanum vulgare
Scabiosa
Androsace rotundifolia
Fragaria nubicola
Potentilla
Hedychium spicatum
Anemone vitifolia
Thalictrum
Euphorbia cognata
Geranium
Pedicularis?
A thisle
Pteris wallichianum
Pteridium aqiulinum
Some names I have found in 'Concise flowers of the Himalaya' from Oleg Polunin, Oxford University Press.
The vegetation in a given area says a lot about the climate, and here it was clearly a vegetation you find in a temperate climate! A couple of weeks earlier I had seen Trachycarpus martianus at 1500 meters near Gorkha in Nepal. There the climate was more subtropical with plants like Nephrolepis and Schima wallichii. But Trachycarpus takil was even growing together with Origanum vulgare, a plant native to The Netherlands! Not a plant you would expect to find growing wild next to a palm! And Androsace rotundifolia was realy a plant from a genus of alpines!
But the place where I saw Trachycarpus takil gets snow and frost during winter! The area is arround 30.01 latitude North and 80.12 longitude East. And the highest growing palms where arround 2500 meters! So this palm should be a good candidate for colder parts of the world. And it looks very similair to Trachycarpus fortunei.
Trachycarpus takil had finished flowering when I visited the spot at April 29, 2010. In Darjeeeling I had seen Trachycarpus fortunei in the botanical garden flowering arround March 10. So I guess T. takil flowers arround the same time or a bit later as its a bit at the same altitude, Darjeeling is at 2134 meters asl, but farther north.
They where growing both in shady as well as sunny locations. The rocks where a kind of metamorphic cristalyne rock.
Well it was one of my most exciting trips to see this palm growing wild in its natural habitad! My guide told me that I was the first person whon wanted to see this palm. Most Western people go to Munsiyari to make treks to the Milam Glacier.
For the locals its only a palm for making brooms. And also the locals cut the trees where they are easely accesible as along the road to the Kalamuni Pass. Fortunately a lot of the palms grow on steep mountainsides and inaccesible cliffs! And I told the guide that it would be a good thing if the villagers would grow palms from seeds to plant along their fields so that in the future they can get the leaves for brooms from their gardens and not from the wild. And also the seeds could be sold to nurseries arround the world. This would bring extra income to the local econemy. Also when people come to see the palms would be good for the local village. As long as they only take pictures!
I guess I saw about 30 to 40 palms in total that morning. And it was that my guide had not enough time otherwise we would have probably many more lower down. It seems to me that the pictures of the article'Takil at the roof of the world' where taken in the same area. And the picture of Panchachulli Peak was the clue to find the location. Before I left I had done some googeling on internet to find that Panchachulli Peak and from wich place the picture had been taken.
Alexander Nijman
The Kali temple at the Kalamuni Pass at 2700 meters where the trail started.