nepal and its plants
The Kingdom of Nepal is a narrow, rectangular country at the heart of the Himalaya.
Bounded by the cold, arid Tibetan Plateau
to the north, and the hot, humid Indian plains to the south, Nepal is famous for its culture and
spectacular mountain scenery. Eight of the world's ten highest peaks are found within its borders,
including the highest point on earth, Sagarmatha, 8,848 m (Mount Everest, 29,028 ft). Nepal is also
home to an amazing diversity of plants: from stunted alpines battling with the harsh environments
of the frozen mountains, to mighty trees of the steamy lowland jungles down at around 60 m, and
all within 150 km (see Fact File for country statistics).
Botanically Nepal forms a transition zone
between the plants of the western Himalaya (including western Asiatic and Mediterranean elements) and
the eastern Himalaya (with many Sino-Japanese elements). Adding variety to the mix are Tibetan Plateau
(Central Asiatic) plants from the north and humid tropical species of the lowland plains (Terai) from
the Gangetic plains of India and further a field into Indochina. Central to this is the Himalayan range
itself, a unique series of mountain chains formed by geologically recent
mountain building events. These young massifs contribute
to the diversity of plants, and have provided barriers to and corridors through which plants migrated
during the ice ages.
Nepal has a monsoon climate, with the wet
season starting in June when heavy rains of the south-west monsoon arrive. The High Himalaya range
blocks the northwards passage of the moist airs, increasing rainfall in Nepal and keeping the areas
beyond in deep rain shadow. These same mountains also act as a barrier to the cold fronts sweeping
across from central Asia, protecting Nepal and northern India and giving them warmer winters. The
high mountains, deep river valleys and lowland plains combine with the effects of the summer monsoon
and dry winter to form bewildering array of habitats in
what is a relatively small country: Nepal is smaller than the UK, and barely larger than the 'boot'
of Italy. Existing checklists for Nepal record
some 6000 species of flowering plants (about 4 times as many the UK) and about 530 ferns. However,
botanical exploration has really only extended beyond
the capital Kathmandu since the 1950's, and botanical experts estimate that over 6600 species will
be listed for Nepal when the poorly known remote regions are fully explored.
flora of nepal
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It is estimated that 246 flowering plant species are endemic to (only
found in) Nepal (Shrestha & Joshi, 1996). Nepal's importance to world conservation is further highlighted by the international
recognition of the Himalayan Region as one of the World's top 20 hottest global
biodiversity hotspots: a region for which Nepal is a major
component. Like most of the Himalaya (Bhutan is the exception),
much of Nepal has been greatly modified by man over the last four to five thousand years, and little of the original forest remain. Conservation
is a high priority for HM Government of Nepal, both locally and internationally, and Nepal is
signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The formulation and implementation of successful conservation measures depends upon accurate and
well-communicated information on plant diversity. Floras (a comprehensive account of all the plants
found within a country) provide the fundamental knowledge needed for this, but, unlike surrounding
countries, Nepal does not have a Flora. The Flora
of Nepal project is addressing this urgent need with Nepalese botanists working with an
international team of scientists on the production of a Flora of Nepal.
plants and people in nepal [top]
Since ancient times, the people of Nepal have depended upon plants and plant
products as a mainstay of everyday life. Today, almost 90% of Nepalese rely on subsistence
agriculture,
with plants performing a vital role as arable crops, fodder, fruit and vegetables,
fuel, building materials and medicines. Nepal is a multiethnic and multilingual country, with more
than 60 different ethnic groups speaking about 75 languages. As one would expect, associated with
this is a great diversity in plant lore. However, with increasing
urbanisation and uptake of modern medicines and agricultural practices, much of this indigenous
knowledge is now dwindling and largely only retained by village elders. There is real danger that
this will be lost to future generations, and ethnobotanists
are busy documenting the wealth of indigenous knowledge for posterity. So far over 1500 plants (1434 flowering
plants, 65 ferns and their allies, and 8 conifers and their allies) have been recorded as having
at least one use, including more than 650 used as food plants and over 1000 species of wild plants
used for medicine.
plants of nepal website
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This Plants of Nepal website aims to provide accurate and reliable
information about the great diversity of plants found in the Kingdom of Nepal. The intended
audience is expected to be equally diverse, from school children to those at universities, the
general public and professional researchers alike. The style and presentation reflects this, and
although many people in Nepal can access the Internet, bandwidth is often very limited, so graphics
are used sparingly. Associated websites include:
For further information explore the linked pages and see the
bibliography of literature and online resources.
These pages are written using frames and basic javascript. This may cause alerts in some browsers and in these cases the scripting should be allowed. Scalable fonts are used, if these are too small to read then they can be enlarged using your browser settings (e.g. the View: Text Size menu in Internet Explorer).