We are all back safe and sound in Kathmandu and after a few very busy days I now have a chance to do this.

Phoksumdo Tal (3600m), Dolpa District, Nepal.
Flora of Nepal 2014

Since getting back we’ve sorted the collections made in the field in to 4 duplicate sets. One set has been handed over to Nepal’s Department of Plant Resources (DPR) and one to Tribhuvan University’s (TU) Botany department. We’ve secured export permits for the remaing two sets one for us at RBGE and one for Tokyo Univeristy herbarium. All four institutions are the collaborating partners working on the Flora of Nepal, so everyone benifits from the fieldwork.

Patick and myself have spent time working on the Pedicularis and Clematis collections at Nepal’s National Herbarium at Godavari and we’ve all attended a post trek Flora of Nepal meeting and seminar with staff from TU and DPR.

Unsurprisingly a lot has happened in the past 4 weeks so here are some highlights.

• A 26 hours bus journey involving 4 buses and a jeep ride due to multiple landslips blocking roads. Each time a full unload and transfer from vehicle to vehicle.
  

  Our first bus the Burtibang Express. Road conditions at times in Baglung District Nepal

  

  Jeep travel in Baglung District. Nepal

• We walked over 180km from Burtibang Bazaar in Baglung District to Phoksumdo Tal in Dolpa District, then back to Juphal. Our route gave us an altitudinal gain and loss of almost 30,000m

• Three fairly high passes were crossed. Phagune Dhuri at 4100m (12,300ft), the map said it was only 3800m! Then two passes of 4500m (13,500ft),  one unnamed and the other was the Jangla Bhanjyang.

• There was medical emergency at our highest camp at 4300m which involved a night time descent of 300m for some of our group and and the administration of emergency oxygen. Then the following morning a run up to the pass of 500m to get the Sat phone to work and a call to the medics. Not to worry everyone is fine.
• We made 451 herbarium colletions of plants of along the way.

• And excitingly there is one new species of Clematis.

Final route heading north. Each red dot is a collection site. As we do data entry in the field it is east to generate a map of our work quickly.

The internet is not great in Kathmandu for uploading images and with the intermittent load shedding (power cuts) here are just a few of the great plants we saw and collected. I’ll do more when we get back to Edinburgh.

Right time to go tidy gear and pack it away in the store until next time.

Primula reidii. Flora of Nepal BRD expedition 2014, Rukum District, Nepal.

Silene helleboriflora  Flora of Nepal BRD expedition 2014. Rukum District, Nepal

Clematis tibetana subsp. brevipes. Flora of Nepal BRD expedition 2014. Dolpa District, Nepal.

Meconopsis horridula. Flora of Nepal BRD expedition 2014. Rukum District, Nepal