Cicer microphyllum

There appears to be no entry for this in eFI.  Cultivated ‘Chick-pea’ (Cicer arietinum) is grown in Ladakh.

There is a description and line-drawing in ‘Flowers of the Himalaya’- Afghanistan to W.Nepal @ 3300-4800m on dry slopes in the Tibetan borderland areas and on irrigated ground.

I am familiar with it from the Suru Valley & Zanskar. A pressed specimen was collected by my team during the University of Southampton Ladakh Expedition in 1980 (a duplicate was deposited in the University of Kashmir herbarium) from a S-facing mountainside, dry rock, scattered grasses in dense, spreading clumps. The standard petals were pale mauve with purple striations, inner parts white; keel darker mauve; ht: to 60cm.

There appear to be no records for it in Nepal in the ‘Trans-Himalayan’ zone there.

See: http://photos.v-d-brink.eu/Flora-and-Fauna/Asia/Pakistan-new/i-SBN7Tmz and other images taken in Baltistan.

I attach a few images scanned in from mediocre slides taken in the 1980s but they do illustrate some features albeit not in close-up detail.

Hopefully, a member of this group can take some better photos in Ladakh (where it is quite widespread) or Lahoul in the years to come.

Here with the first FULL entry for this wild check-pea.

I first came across this during the Southampton University Ladakh Expedition, 1980. triplicate sets of pressed specimens were gathered incl. one for University of Kashmir. The collection was made at Rangdum on a S-facing mountainside, dry rocks, amongst grasses,

spreading clumps; standard petals mauve with purple striations, inner part white, keel deeper mauve; hairy (glandular); ht: to 60cm. 

Botanical tours from UK found this at Darcha and Patseo in Lahaul.

The images attached were taken by the late Krishan Lal @ 3100m, Chattru, Lahul, H.P.

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