Meanwhile, I have taken two trekkings of Topke Gola - Jargare Himal and Kanchanjunga Circuit based on Taplejung in Northeast Nepal from the latter half of June to the end of July. The latter route is the path that a Japanese botanist Nakao Sasuke walked about 60 years ago.

Here I introduce the flowers that are blooming in the smoking rain and sometimes shining in the morning sun in a dark rhododendron forest.

Meconopsis grandis As named "big" (grand) this flower is one of representative among nearly 80 species of blue poppy (Meconopsis). As its name suggests, the flower has a diameter of 25 cm and a length of 160 cm, which is one of the largest in the Meconopsis genus. The characteristic of this flower is that leaves separated into three from the place where flower buds emerge, the leaves under it are mutually replicating. Also, the flower color changes from sky blue to red purple. (Some says that like hydrangea, it becomes blue when the soil is acidic, and red if it is alkaline, but it’s not established as solid theory.) M. grandis has some varieties, such as M. Gakydiana (formerly M. Grandis orientalis) in the eastern part of Bhutan and in the west of Arunachal Pradesh of India. The species collected in Sikkim was first introduced to Europe, which was rather small with a diameter of 10 cm and a length of 60 cm. This flower was blooming in the opening of dark rhododendron forest where the sunlight was entering. But we also saw this type beside the meadow and the side of the mountain stream etc. (North of Topke Gola alt. 3850 m)

Three days after I left, my father who had been bedridden passed away as if he was going to see his son who took the flowers in the sky. He lived the era of Taisho, Showa, Heisei which were turbulent time, and quietly closed his 95 years old life. Since I was out of wired/wireless area it was after the funeral that I got in touch with the news. While I met him before departure and said good-bye, it became a regretful parting. So I send his this flower as my sincere condolence.

(1)   Topke Gola - Jaljale Himal Trek

(2)   Kangchenjunga Circuit (Tseram – Ghunsa) Trek

(3)   Gosainkunda (for Acclamation)

This flower native to South America blooms from late autumn to early winter in Japan, but in Nepal it blooms in summer. If the flowering factor is not sunshine or temperature, what is the cause of flowering? Did it lose the sense of season due to coming to the northern hemisphere?

In Nepal, rice planting season starts from the end of June. When the seedlings grow, and the rice fields are filled with water, rice planting starts in a week. All family members are coming to the field and planting. In Japan we were doing the same way 60 years ago. The rice field borders are made by heaping up a lot of stones, which has been built for hundreds of years.

A ginger company, take spices from the seeds for curry materials. It is indispensable for seasoning Nepal 's national meal dālbhāt. Villagers are cultivating cardamom along the a stream, and making it a source of cash income.

(Cardamom field)
　


To keep quality it is harvested in a bunch and shipped raw.
　　
(at Chiruwa)

This flower was named after Nathaniel Wallich (1786 –1854) who was the second director of the Kolkata Botanic Garden. He took a blue poppy in Nepal and sent the specimen to Europe, introducing the blue poppy for the first time to the academic world.

You can see pale yellow flowers in the picture on the above. It looks like Meconopsis paniculata, but it is still M. walliichii. The way to distinguish is whether the leaf slices reach to the main vein of the leaf. The picture below is M. paniculata that grew nearby. Try to compare the shapes of the leaves.

 　 (expanded)

Topke Gola, A Village of Flowers

There are 13 households at the same height as Mt. Fuji, where they are living by yak grazing. Also they are engaged in transportation business with yak as a main vehicle.

We proceeded to the north passing under the left side of the escarpment to Thudam. This route is only used only by local residents. On the map the route is drawn in ultra fine broken lines.

(At the entrance of village in full bloom of yellow flowers such as buttercup)
The area around Topke Gora is the capital of M. Grandis which blooms with various colors.

Comparing M. Grandis in grassland and that of forest, the latter has a large flower (diameter 25 cm) and a length of about 2 m, and the leaves have less bristles and are smooth. I do not know if the reason is coming from simply nutrition or variation. If it is classified as a variant species in the future, I prepare a variation name for that time as
Meconopsis grandis var. topkegorensis since it grows in Topke Gola.

Two boys who lived next to our camping site lead me to this place. They were returning home from their elementary school (boarding school) in Papung during summer holidays. The elder brother was able to answer in English properly though not fluently.
　　　　　(Left – Sundai age 11, right – Kaji age 7)

Rheum nobile

Annual grasses of Rhubarb genus of Polygonace family. It is also called Tall Rhubarb. It likes humidity, and grows on the south side of the pass where the fog of monsoon hits directly here, so you cannot see them on the northern side as the wind gets moist off past the pass.

There are some ruins that have been eaten and scattered here and there, local people are eating flower buds which are packed by the bract. It tastes sour, just like sorrel.

Pansang Banyang Pass (alt. 5012 m) 　　　

A simple pass with merely one cairn (Cholten) where only local people are crossing over. The white road with granite stone that a glacier has grinded down for a long time conjures bone road.
Banyang means “under the top”, so implies pass. Local people call it as Deurali simply.

Beyond the pass we went down to the bottom of the glacial valley and on the steep slope. There were pale yellow flowers on a wall of the end moraine (a trace of glacier).

Meconopsis sinuata　　　　　
The stem was eaten. The criminal was a sheep.　　
 

Gentian family

Look like Gentiana jamesii in Hokkaido.
When rain is coming it hides the stamen with cilia. (Stamen appears under the sun)
　　

Primula capitata subsp. crispata

Blue bonbon candies are standing around the side moraine. They are the main characters of this valley along with Bistorta and Anafalis.

Cow and yak (and its mix) come from this hill foot (Ramche) to this pasture on a day-to-day basis. They never eat this flower because it has poison. Therefore, they are prospering.

　　　Meconopsis horridula

The guide tried to cheat me saying "There is no water here, so that camping is impossible". But I refuted him by finding a small stream nearby and forced him to set up my tent. It was worth.

Meconopsis walliichii var. fusco-purpurea

M. walliichii had appeared one after another in the mountain road from Tseram to the pass. The clouds buried Tseram valley but after waiting for a while the clouds flew away and rocky peaks on the other side had appeared. Flowers started shining on the morning sun. It is a good shutter opportunity which never got in the valley bottom. I returned back to the spot where this flower was blooming and pressed the camera shutter.

Euphorbia luteoviridis


(East of Shing Gonpa
alt. 3500 m)

Apongiocarpella Purpurea

There is a purple form.

Oxygraphis Endlicheri