PLANTSMAN IN NEPAL

In 1971 a small group of botanists and horticulturalists organised a three-month expedition to the Upper Arun Valley region of eastern Nepal, to collect seed and specimens of ornamental and economic plants, both wild and cultivated. This book chronicles the travels of the three-man horticultural team.

The journey often followed little known tracks through some of the world s most dramatic and lonely mountain terrain. The team either camped or enjoyed the hospitality of Tibetans in their isolated villages, sharing in their ceremonies, their meals, their dances. The native vegetation was still relatively undisturbed and the team enjoyed the thrill of walking through mixed woods rich in species including cream-barked birch and silver fir. Elsewhere it crossed alpine pastures sprinkled with blue gentians and the golden rosettes of Himalayan poppies.

Frustratingly out of print for several years, this 1995 edition has been thoroughly revised in respect of nomenclature whilst much new information has been incorporated. A new chapter, Back to the Milke Danda , has been added, describing a follow-up trek in Spring 1973 when the magnificent rhododendrons were seen flowering. Most important of all, however, are the illustrations which make this book a visual treat, as well as an exciting record of modern plant exploration.