About The Author
KEVIN WHITE Kevin was born in Sydney in 1924. Orchids interested Kevin from an early age, and he has cultivated this interest over the years. He served in the Australian Army in the South Pacific in the Second World War and then returned to education for B.Sc. Forestry beginning a lifetime work in tropical forestry. This has covered North Queensland, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, and the lowlands of Nepal, with minor service in Bhutan, Cambodia, Sumatra and Laos. Everywhere following his hobby of local orchid study. His lengthy service in Nepal saw the collec-tion and culture of its orchids, now curated in Hetauda, Nepal. He lives in retirement in Thailand.
BHAGIRATH SHARMA Bhagirath was born in 1949 in Nepal. Since childhood he has been interested in natural history which developed into a love of plants of all kinds over a range of Asian countries, visiting India, Burma, and Thailand. He has had a varied career and a wide involvement in community activities. As host of the Hetauda Avocado Resort he meets many visitors with a wide range of interests, but he highlights bird life and orchids. He has a fund of local knowledge of these and is happy to share this with others. Much of his orchid knowledge is included in Wild Orchids.
About The Book
Wild Orchids in Nepal: The Guide to the Himalayan Orchids of the Tribhuvan Rajpath and Chitwan Jungle provides a hands-on companion to a Nepal's most accessible orchid habitats. Offering practical advice for the visitor, the guide is also a handbook for the orchid grower or armchair traveler. It provides a wealth of data on the species encountered in the wild, including detailed descriptions for identification. Although its primary aim is to enhance enjoyment of the orchids in their natural environment, the book contributes significantly to the literature on Himalayan species and reports sixteen new Nepal records. Crisply written and using a minimum of technical terms, this volume, based on twenty years of observing Nepal's orchids, is an essential companion for the layman and professional alike.
Introduction
Wild Orchids in Nepal is written by amateurs having a basic local knowledge of, and a deep love for, the diversity of wild orchid species surrounding our enchanting part of the world. You could say we are biased, and we would agree. We love these beauteous (how else to describe them?) species in the wild. We hope we can share this with you. We are blessed in having access, very close at hand, to ranges of temperate and subtropical plants in a short transect of the Himalaya. This compressed terrain provides many altitudinal and forest habitats. In these niches, an astonishing variety of orchids from both the eastern and western world floras find a home. Wonderfully, this flora mix is accessible by a 137-kilometer road, a truly historic road no less. The scenery is magnificent, and the way is serviced with very acceptable levels of accommodation and cuisine. We are sure you will have no trouble in undertaking an informative and enjoyable orchid safari in this transect. Wild Orchids in Nepal is intended to be a compan-ion guide to the orchids of the Rajpath. We have tried to construct the guide from our twenty years of experience so that you will be able to travel independently in this wonderland and identify its orchids. Our intent is the same as that of Conrad Loddiges when publicizing his Botanical Cabinet in 1818. He wished to leave readers with "a first sight acquaintance" of New World plants and "some account of their peculiar qualities." This is our hope also for some of the wild orchids of Nepal. Does the book cover all of Nepal's orchids? Woefully not. We take you through just a small transect of 30 kilometers width of the 800 odd kilome-ters of the length of Nepal and just over 30 air kilometers from Kathmandu to Hetauda. However, we also include the orchids of the Royal Chitwan National Park slightly to the west. These are Himalayan orchids, all ex-tending beyond Nepal. We describe and photograph 151 species and men-tion a few more. We are indeed proud that evethis small transect we add sixteen new records to the orchid species efteration in Nepal. It is of interest to know that many type specimens collections that were used to give plants their identity were actually collected in this very vicinity It's not often that you have the chance to follow in the footsteps of early orchidologists, but this is such a chance. A very early visitor was Francis Buchanan (Buch.-Ham.), later Sir Francis, Hamilton who spent the year 1802-03 in Nepal researching natural resources and collecting orchids. This was an adventurous period, indeed. Nepal was, by political design, an iso-lated country until after the Anglo-Nepal war of 1814-16. Shortly after that conflict, Nathaniel Wallich, Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden (1815-41) made his collecting visit to Nepal in 1820-22. John Lindizy when describing many species employed his herbarium specimens and calogue names extensively. It gives a very warm sense of history to be able walk in their footsteps and to see the descendents of these species still at tome in their native settings, some 200 years later. Did we do this alone? Of course not, and our grateful thanks go to our various staff members, often on secondment additional to their normal du-hes as cooks, drivers, forest technicians who were pressed into orchid service. They were always willingly so, and while keenly soaking up our information, also contributed both to the collections and to our knowledge of local lore. These people are far too many to mention individually, but their collective assistance is greatly appreciated. We thank you all from our hearts. Our thanks also go to those who kindly assisted us by supplying photographs. This magic orchid visit can be incorporated into a wider travel context. You can combine an orchid tour with opportunity extensions, and enjoy historic and religious marvels of the ancient kingdom city of Kathmandu. Or you might like to join one of the conducted tours of unforgettable scen-ery and alpine flowers, or you might wish to take in the delights of highland trekking or to experience the very diverse animal and bird fauna of the Royal Chitwan National Park, all so close at hand. A wealth of pleasures certainly awaits you.
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