This is the second visit to Tibet following the two years before. This time, I traveled with Mr. T, the former president of nature tour company. Over 30 years, he is involved in the development of a nature observation tour, has a thick relation with local travel agencies, and is a flower expert with a deep knowledge of blue poppies. Thanks to this, I could observe some blue poppies as the first Japanese, and also find a super rare iris. It was a trip with three beats, “Good flowers, fine weather and nice friend”. I usually lose 5 kg or more when I returned from camping trekking so far.This time l stayed in hotel, moved by car and ate a lot of delicious foods, so can keep my weight. On the other hand, in western China there are a lot of construction of highways, bridges, railroads everywhere in local as if there were no influence due to economic friction between the US and China underway. However, I felt that the pressure of control is increasing on the private businesses and SMEs of Tibetan residents behind the scene. Please click here for the previous Tibet trekking report(Japanese). 　Meconopsis torquata Plant Hunter George Sheriff took the picture of this flower in 1943 at the gallery in the mountains of 4200m to 4800m near Lhasa when he was working for British Representative Office there. Since then, this blue phantom has not been touched by people other than the local people. As there are few specimens, black and white photos, and the the description of the first collector (Captain Walton, 1904) saying “Flowers are pale red”, it has been called speculation in various ways, including black and white photography colored in pink. Mr. T, who looked the picture of the stem without flowers in 2014, asked to search the location to the local travel agency and found out the habitat for 3 years. In the past, many were growing even in lower places but now they are almost extinct because they are collected as an expensive medicine. While my body is likely to be blown away by the strong wind blowing from the valley, I pantingly climbed the ridge road. In the gallery we reached we found M. torquata just bloomed and standing straight up its blue head same as sky. The species name “Torquata” means blue turquoise. (North of Lhasa, altitude 5178m)

Travel Route (1) Chengdu-Linzhi-Seji La-Tombase Village-Linzhe-Mi La Pass-Lhasa-Linzhou-Gandingsi-Lhasa-Chengdu (July 11-19)

(2) Chengdu-Kangding-Daw-Xinduqiao-Quanhuatan-Xinduqiao-Chengdu (July 19-23) (from Google map) (1) Flower in Seji La and Tombase Village In mid-June of the two years before, when I vistaed here, rhododendrons and primroses were in full bloom, and I saw blue poppies such as M. Baileyi, M. Simplicifolia and M. Sulphurea with yellow flowers. This time, a month later, I also enjoyed the same kind and the different type of blue poppies.

			Meconopsis baileyi Mr. T takes a rest On the way to Seji La we took a toilet break and looked at under the bottom during pee. of the cliff, and glanced a blue flower. When we went down the steep slope, it is M. baileyi just blossomed. It was an unexpected harvest because we were not looking forward seeing this flower in mid July. M. Bailey was named after English Colonel F.M. Bailey who found the flower in 1913 in Ron Chu Valley near Yalung Tsangpo River. And later Kingdon Ward collected its seeds and brought a blue poppy boom to the UK. (Along National Road No. 318, alt. 4000m)
Meconopsis prainiana In in area where M. simplicifolia and M. sulphurea with yellow flowers were blooming, M. prainiana is waiting for us with pale blue flowers. .(Alt. 4500m)			A sightseeing bus runs through the pass, but any passengers do not notice the blue poppy. (If they got interested in, blue poppies would have been taken up by their roots - Wow! ? )
Meconopsis speciosa Very similar to M. horridula. A small blue poppy. Previously called Pseudo horridula. The bristle is softer than horridula and there is cuts in the leaves. It disperses from eastern Tibet to Yunnan and to the west of Sichuan. The species of Seji La is classified as "Cawdorinan". (As M. horridula posted below, please make a comparison) (Alt. 4600m)			Meconopsis sulphurea    One flower was still blooming nearby.
Meconopsis impedita A little odd type of blue poppy in Seji La. About 30cm high and almost no bristles, leaves also curled. Flower contains purple color. This type of flower can be seen in Yunnan (Close to M. concina and M. venusta) (Alt. 4600m)
There are many various flowers in Seji La other than blue poppies.
Rheum nobile    Thalictrum chelidonii       R. Nobile at Seji La's is over 2m high (Alt. 4650m)   Same group of Japanese thalictrum (Tombatse village Alt. 3600m)         　　　　Primula florindae Named after Kingdon Ward's first wife. It smells sweet. The white flower in the back right, Primula Sikkimensis that does not smell. Another blue poppy that Ward found in this valley is Meconopsis Florindae. But it is visible only once in 2001. This is another phantom blue poppy. (Tombatse village Alt. 3600m)			Primula cawdoriana    Named after the sponsor name of Kingdon Ward (Alt. 4250m along G318)     Notholirion bulbiferum Lily family flowers. About 1.5m high. Blooming close to M. Bailey .(Alt. 3900m along G318)

(2) Linzhe-Mi La Pass-Mozhugongka-Lhasa Running west on the Lin-Lha highway, which opened last year and connects Lhasa and Linzhi, it took only four hours while used to be taking a whole day. While there are road signs for “Bear Caution!”, but unlike northern island of Japan, Hokkaido, there are more cars than bears here. Getting off the highway on the way and ascending to Mi La shan. Used be (two year before) the Pass was crowded with cars and restaurants, but now there are less visitors and the restaurant is closed. Even no fee-collector existed at the pay toilet due to completion of a tunnel passing under. This pass may be abandoned in the future, but it may be good for flowers because the environmental destruction by human would be ceased.
	Meconopsis horridula     As Mi La Shan is the place where a strong wind blows through, plants are dwarfed, so this M. horridula is also as small as 5 cm. Nevertheless the flower has topical characteristics of horridula such as dark blue petals, irregularly round stamen ring and dark blue filaments. Among them the prominent point is strong and sharp bristles which makes you bleeding when mistakenly touched. It looks more stringent than M. speciosa in Seji La because it endures the dry and cold environment to leave offsprings. (Alt. 5030m)
Meconopsis     There was only one flower left.	Fruit capsule
The sky clears up as we go down Mi La shan. Sunlight comes out. The blue sky extends over Lhasa city. This is a good sign for us. And barley and rapeseed field are waiting for harvest. This is a Tibetan feature of this period.
（Along G318 near Mozhugongka, Alt. 3800m)     　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   Meconopsis lhasaensis This is one of the flowers that should be called a subspecies of Horridula. While it looks so similar that it ’s indistinguishable, the petals are lighter color and sometimes reddish.The shape of the ring of the stamens is a perfectly round. It is distributed around Lhasa City and west of Mi La shan. (Southeast of Mozhugongka, Alt. 3990m)
(3) Around Lhasa Based on the hotel in Lhasa City, we searched for flowers in the northern mountains, Linzhou County, and around Ganding Temple. The purpose was of course to find M. Torquata. Luckily on the first day of exploration we made it. The next day, it was snow in the mountain. If we were one day late, it was difficult to find the flower hidden in the snow and even to reach the place.

Habitat of M. Torquata It roots into a little soil between large granite boulder containing iron. The surrounding area is a scree of boulders.The slope where the river flows becomes a pasture for yaks. Small flies gathering in the yak's dunk are pollinators. The withered stem on the right side of the flower is a flower from last year. Under it there are young leaves that will bloom next year.
	Meconopsis lhasaensis 　　　　　　- Four Sisters In the north of Chengdu, there is.Mt. Siguniang (Four Daughters) where there are many flowers. The mountain has four peaks and is very popular for high-end amateur mountaineers as being able to easily ascend on the top of Daguniang (eldest daughter) peak with 5025m altitude. Other peaks are Erguniang (second daughter), Sanguniang (third daughter) and Siguniang (fourth daughter) of 6,250m high, where Alpine Club of Doshisha University of Japan first ascended in 1981. This Lhasaensis reminds me Mt. Siguniang. The eldest daughter seems to stand behind her sisters and to take gently care of them. The second daughter helps her elder sister, and the third and fourth daughters are waving their innocent beauty. Famous Japanese novel "Sasameyuki (light snow)" is a story of four sisters. And my deceased mother-in-law was the eldest daughter of four sisters. This flower brings me various thoughts and memory.   　　(North of Lhasa, alt. 5140m)
Paraquilegia microphylla In Tibet there are places where blue poppies and paraquilegia are blooming together. The year before when I visited Ganding - Samwe trekking I saw palaquilegia in the back of M. sulphurea. This time I saw palaquilegia near M. Torquata. It was blooming in such a big colony. .(North of Lhasa, alt. 5170m)
Meconopsis sp 　　　　- Five stars Petals are shining like stars in the sunlight from behind. It looks like a star. 5-star classI gorgeous blue poppy. From the shape of leaves and stamens it seems to be a friend pa lhasaensis, or may be a hybrid with horridula? .(North of Lhasa, South of Linzhou Village, alt. 4100m)    　Primula sikkimensis   .(North of Lhasa, East of Linzhou Village, alt. 4200m)   Meconopsis lhasaensis The pilgrimage route around the back mountain of Ganding is a treasure trove of lhasaensis.Yaks are eating grass there and we have a good view of Ki Chu flowing under the eyes. .(Ganding temple alt. 4200m)
(4) Sichuan Northwest
This is the second time since 2013 when I visited for the first time to look for blue poppies in China. Thanks to the western development, every city and town have been improved and become very beautiful. What surprised me most is that Chengdu-Kangding is connected in 4 hours, which once took a whole day, because of the completion of highway and Luding Bridge over the Dadouhe River. The technology to dig a long tunnel will not be inferior to Japan. However, as the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008 revealed that many buildings collapsed due to the hand-cutting work, it is impossible to say that you are 100% safe.
Luding Bridge Completed in October last year with five years of construction. Suspension bridge structure with a total length of 1400m. The total construction cost was 1.3 billion yuan. This is the place where the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong succeeded in crossing the river at this point. It is not only a key point of transportation, but also a politically important place (sacred place).

Zhedoushan Pass (alt. 4300m) locates about 20km west from Kangding. This pass separates the Sichuan Basin and the Tibetan Plateau. Beyond here, the climate changes and becomes a dry climate and the blue sky spreads. Accordingly the vegetation changes and blue poppies begin to appear. The blue poppy used to be often seen on the southern slope where now becomes a major tourist destination. A tourist information center is built, and there are many cars waiting for parking. Due to tourists' walk-in and step-on blue poppies have also drastically decreased. We could not find good blue poppies and gave up to look for and went down the hill, but fortunately we found good blue ones on the west slope.   Meconopsis henrici Henry d'Orelean, French Prince as well as explorer and biologist, found this flower in 1890 when he explored in western Sichuan. For this reason, the species was named after price. (Zhedoushan, alt.4280m)        Meconopsis integrifolia The flower was over the blooming peak and was wilting, But it has a fine fruit. Next year it will bloom here with big flowers.   Fruit The fruit shape is different to M. Pseudo integrifolia. It suddenly starts to rain even when the blue sky is spreading and soon it clears up - this is the characteristics of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau. At the corner of the ranch, many Tibetans gathered and an outdoor wedding ceremony was held. After the ceremony, the newlyweds show off in a car decorated with flowers and parade to the reception hall. It's like America style in some years ago. After passing the golden monastery (Gompa) in Tagong and running for a while, we glanced a blue flower on the cliffside. Parking car on the road shoulder, hurrying back and climbing the cliff, there is....
Meconopsis prattii
	This M.prattii is sometimes embarrassing researchers. The distribution is not clear and the form also changes greatly. So far it has been confused with M. racemosa in in northern Sichuan and M.Rudis in Yunnan. Even the first recorder D. Plain classified this species as a variant of M. sinuata.  (Both are north of Tagong, alt. 3760m)  (Quanhuatan, alt. 3940m)

At first glance, I thought that the individual I saw at Quanhuatan was M. horridula. But looking closely, the stem on the left breaks at the base and new peduncles with flowers are coming from the side. In the right, the stem breaks along the way.and peduncles are coming out from the bottom of the stem. When the stalk is broken by the wind or beaten by an animal the flowers make desperate efforts to leave the seeds. Researchers who will not go to the field are likely to say “new species” as soon as they see these samples. M. Manaslensis is a good example. (Both are Quanhuatan, alt. 3940m)

Blue poppy searching is not our primary purpose during Sichuan trip - searching for a yellow iris, Iris narcissiflora. There are many yellow irises in the southern hemisphere such as genus Moraea in South Africa. But there are a few wild yellow irises in the northern hemisphere, such as Iris pseudacorus native to Europe and Iris danfordiae in Turkey. And the flower's outer and inner petals are open flatly. It was collected by a Swedish doctor in 1922, but the sample was incomplete and details were unknown. Later in 1992 English climber took a picture near Mt. Kong. Based on that, K. Ogisu, a Japanese plant researcher, found it in the west of Mt. Konga in 2002. Thanks to the report from a guide who found this flower by chance in another place last year we started to explore.

t.			Iris narcissiflora    The flower is 15-20cm high and the diameter 3.5cm. It extends a thin stem from the ground and attaches one flower at the tip. There are orange spots on petals, and both the outer and inner petals open flat. One leaf is attached in the middle of the stem. .(North of Xinduqiao, alt. 3900m)
During this season, various flowers bloom all at once as if they were competing for the benefits of the short summer sun. The field is full of a hundred flowers.
Comastoma pulmonarium There is a same kind of flower in Japan Central Alps. .(Both North of Tagong, alt 3760m)			Epilobium angustifolium This is a pioneer plant that grows immediately after wildfires and landslides.
Scutellaria hypericifolia （Both North of Tagong, alt 3760m)			Gentiana sino-ornata Gentian is unlikely to open its flower, but when the sun comes out it change it chastity. (Zhedoushan, alt. 4300m)
Pedicularis sp. (South of Daw, alt. 3900m)			Ajuga ovalifolia Lamiaceae. (South of Daw, alt. 3900m)
Pedicularis siphonantha 　var. delavayi (Both are in Quanhuatai, alt.4000m)			Aconitum gymnadrum This contains poison in root.
Dephinium grandiflorum There is a spots on the tips of petal. This species is horticulturized and widely loved in Europe and America. (Both are in Quanhuatai, alt.4000m)			Incarvillea mairei
			This looks like Chinese trumpet creeper (Campsis grandiflora) which blooms lots of hot orange flowers in summer.
Meconopsis prattii Quanhuatan locates in the west of Mt. Konga and creating limestone shelves made from water flowing out of the lime rock mountain. Now there are only a few ponds but after thousands of years, it will be the same landscape as Huanglong where there are many ponds. On the bank of one pond a M. prattii is blooming. The appearance looks like a water fairy who has just awakened and stood in melancholy. .(Quanhuatan middle tier, alt. 4030m)

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