The herbarium of journeys
Six ways into the collection — by the flower itself, by family, by the colour of its petals, by the season it chose to bloom, or by how high it grows.
The ones that got away
9 flowers documented for these valleys that I haven’t photographed yet — the reason to go back.
Saussurea obvallata
Blooms July – September ~ 3,000–4,600 m
The most loved flower of the Garhwal Himalaya, and the state flower of Uttarakhand. Pale, papery leaves wrap a cluster of purple flowers on a thick stem — a shape that helps trap warmth in the cold mountain air. Common around Hemkund Sahib's lake, and found higher up in the Valley.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers · Hemkund Sahib
Dactylorhiza hatagirea
Blooms June – August ~ 2,800–4,200 m
A wild Himalayan orchid — thick spikes of pink-purple flowers above hand-shaped roots. Those 'five-fingered' roots are used in Tibetan medicine, which has made the plant rare, so it is protected. Look for it in the Valley's wetter meadows in the rainy season.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers
Delphinium brunonianum
Blooms July – September ~ 3,000–4,500 m
Deep blue-violet flowers with a spur and a musky smell that draws flies, since bees are few this high up. Low and sturdy, it handles wind well and grows on drier, higher ground.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers · Hemkund Sahib
Primula macrophylla
Blooms June – August ~ 3,300–4,800 m
A round head of lavender-purple flowers on a white, powdery stem above broad leaves. Where snowmelt keeps the ground wet, many can grow together.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers · Hemkund Sahib
Pleurospermum angelicoides
Blooms July – September ~ 2,700–4,000 m
A tall plant with broad, lacy leaves and big flat heads of white flowers. By August it can stand as tall as a person. With other plants like it, it forms the valley's mid-summer 'canopy'.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers
Arisaema jacquemontii
Blooms June – August ~ 2,400–3,800 m
A green hood striped with darker lines, drawn up into a long, upright tip — the cobra lily of Himalayan clearings. Each plant changes sex over its life: male when young, female once the root grows strong.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers
Fritillaria roylei
Blooms July – August ~ 3,000–4,200 m
Nodding bell flowers in brownish-green with a checkerboard pattern — well hidden among the grasses, so only a slow walker spots them. A high-slope bulb, used a little in traditional medicine.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers
Caltha palustris
Blooms April – August ~ 2,500–4,000 m
Shiny yellow cup flowers above round, fleshy leaves, at every streamside and wet patch. It follows the melting snow uphill and flowers longest where water keeps running.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers
Rhododendron campanulatum
Blooms April – June (flowers) ~ 2,800–4,300 m
The low, wind-shaped rhododendron of the treeline, with lavender-pink bell flowers in late spring. By August the flowers are gone, but its thick green cover lines the trail to Hemkund.
Look for it at Valley of Flowers · Hemkund Sahib
Flower → Place
Every flower in this journal was found in one of two places in Chamoli, Uttarakhand — high in the Indian Himalaya.
Chamoli · Uttarakhand · India
3,250–3,650 m
A high Himalayan valley famous for its monsoon wildflowers. It is a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Chamoli · Uttarakhand · India
3,950–4,632 m
A glacial lake at 4,632 m, ringed by seven peaks and sacred to Sikhs. You reach it by a steep climb from Ghangaria, through flower-filled slopes.
Map markers are location-level published approximations — the photographs carry no GPS data.
