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Trachycarpus latisectus:
The Windamere Palm |
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As early as 1840, Darjeeling attracted
the attention of European botanists for the variety of its plant
life. One may suppose that, after all this time, there were no Darjeeling
plants to be identified, categorized, and to be given root elsewhere.
It therefore, comes as a surprise to read the follwing account in
the Journal
of the International Palm Society
"It was Henry Noltie of the Royal Botanic garden, Edinburgh
who first alerted us to the existence of a strange Trachycarpus
in Darjeeling, India. He had been in the area during the Royal Botanic
Garden Edinburgh Sikkim Expedition in 1992 and had noticed a pair
of these trees in the garden of the famous Windamere Hotel. He took
photographs and collected specimens, but our later examination of
these at Kew provided no clue as to the identity of this palm, other
than that it appeared indeed to be a species of Trachycarpus".
As visitors to Darjeeling and Sikkim discover, the hills and valleys
provide a feast for the eyes with not only varieties of palms, but
a profusion of flowering plants and shrubs, many species of trees,
many kinds of orchid and rhododendron, and cascading waterfalls
and rushing mountain streams. The Darjeeling hills remain a gardener's
delight! |
