Inula racemosa

Here with 8 images of Inula racemosa taken when being shown around the Nehru Botanical Garden in Kashmir by Javed Ahmed Shah and other

staff members.

Part II will cover Inula racemosa in Lahoul.

 

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Nice to see this species in pictures showing different parts.
I agree that many of the assessment of threatened species are lacking field observations in entire distribution range of species. Himalayan terrain is such a difficult area that nobody can even see all the populations of a species; in such case how often people claim extinction  of species! One simple example is of Nardostachys jatamansi (Valerianaceae, now Caprifoliaceae) which grows on steep slopes, rock crevices and often inaccessible. No matter how much it is exploited from nature the species will survive owing to its difficult habitat (however, it does not give us license to exploit it from nature).

You are absolutely right …that we have no right to EXPLOIT nature, just that resources and good-will from the more interested/concerned members of the public are strictly limited, so it is important to PRIORITISE those species genuinely under threat – not incorrectly direct concern and efforts to plants not under any IMMEDIATE threat.

And the world of conservation needs to appreciate that skilled FIELD BOTANISTS supported by quality herbaria (and staff) are ESSENTIAL in EVERY country. In these days of high-tech and evolutionary science, some seem to think such people and skills, are old-fashioned and do not matter.

Some wish to “play computer games” with existing data/records. But no matter how sophisticated/ advanced the analyses, it all comes down to the quality/reliability of the basic data/records inserted into such data bases in the first place.

Just as there is a major problem, no matter how advanced the laboratory equipment is nor accurate the investigation/analyses of metabolic constituents of plants, if when published, the plant had been wrongly identified…..

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Sharing a few images of ‘Manu’ being cultivated in Lahaul.

Perhaps a member has access to the quantity of the plant exported annually these days?

There certainly appears to be considerable demand, which Lahouli ‘farmers’ are responding to.

Also widely cultivated in Lahaul is Saussurea costus (syn. S.lappa) which I shall be posting about – though not in quite the same quantity.

I do not think that Inula racemosa was grown in the same quantity in Lahaul in the 1980s, when I visited on 2 occasions to lead botanical tours up the Miyah Nullah but both those trips were in July – whereas the Inula flowers and is harvested in September. The casual visitor to Lahaul for most of the year would probably not be aware of Inula racemosa (or Saussurea lappa for that matter) – the latter has been a significant crop in Lahaul since at least the 1930s, though much has depended on the demand/ price of potatoes (introduced by Moravian Missionaries in the 19th Century).

Inula racemosa is cultivated in Ladakh as well, though only on a small-scale.

This plant certainly seems to be able to cope with being grown under a remarkable range of conditions. I mentioned in my previous post that it had been cultivated as a field crop in Bhutan (though is not mentioned in ‘Flora of Bhutan’) and has been cultivated in Nepal and presumably grows wild there). It is in cultivation in the West. I grow it myself in the Kohli Memorial Botanical Garden but cannot say that it has thrived here.   Is it found in Uttarakhand, I wonder?

Flora of Lahaul-Spiti says “cultivated through the valley” (though quite what is meant by this I do not know) occasionally met with as an escape.  The authors says this was a substitute for “Kuth” (Saussurea costus).

Thomson records Inula racemosa from Spiti in the 19th Century so was probably grown in Lahaul at that time. Being a useful plant with medicinal uses, it may have been cultivated for centuries making it difficult to say where it occurs naturally.

Regardless of this consideration, whether native or wild, the ‘species’ is self-evidently adaptable and currently exists in LARGE quantity (at least in cultivation).  Who actually knows its true extent and quantity in the wild.

OTHER species MUST therefore represent a greater priority in terms of CONSEVATION concerns & measures.

Surely, local villagers are doing an awfully good job of EX-SITU PLANT CONSERVATION for this species in Lahaul, spurred on by COMMERCIAL CONSIDERATIONS.

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