Valley of Flowers

Valley of flowers, has been known as one of the world,s richest treasures of flowers. This is a second core zone of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The credit for the discovery of the Valley of flowers generally goes to the British mountaineers Frank S. Smythe  and R.L.Holdsworth who incidentally reached this valley during his Mount Kamet expedition in 1931, he brought this wondrous kingdom of wild flowers to light. He was so fascinated By the beauty of this valley that in 1937 he returned to the valley for an extensive herbarium collection and named the place”Valley of flowers” and published a book named “Valley of flowers” (1938), his lucid writing made the valley world famous. But according to Sharma(1985)  it was Colonel Edmund Smythe, an explorer and Eduction Officer in the Indian Army hed visited this valley much earlier in 1862.

Valley of Flowers and its admirers : John Margaret Legge

Frank.S.Smythe’s book “The Valley of flowers” inspired In 1939 John Margaret Legge, a botanist from the Kew Botanical Garden in London, to experience the valley in its full glory. In june 1939 she started her work to collect and study the Flowers in their natural habitat. As a botanist in Royal Botanical Garden, Key in In England, she came here to complete the Smythe’s work on the flora of the Valley. Smythe’s previous work on valley was not sufficient for a scientific research John Margaret Legge waned to continue the legacy. Unfortunately during her collection of the flowers fell down from a cliff and died. A memoriel waserected in her honor. Etched in English and Hindi in to the white marble of the gravestone  is a line from the Bible’s Psalm 121 which reads,

                                                “ I Will lift up mine eyes un to the Hills from whence commeth my help”

It bears her great faith in Himalaya and its enchanting beauty. This memorial stone over her grave was later placed there in 1941, when her elder sister came to India just to collect her works. She went to ‘The Valley’ to pay homage to her loving sister. 

The Legends /Myths of Valley of flowers

Traditionally, the Valley of flowers was used by local shepherds for grazing their flock.  But in the minds of many, it has a greater significance. The myths told about the valley by locals and visitors paint a picture as evocative as the flowering that is the valley’s namesake. According to legends Hindu sages used the valley for meditation on account of its exceptional solitude. To the local people it is a fairies land in Hindu mythology it is named ‘Nandan kanan” meaning “Garden of Indra in paradise” There are stories  about fairies carrying off anyone who wanders in to their domain. There are stories about flowers with a fragrance potent enough to make anyone  who inhales it faint away.

In Hindu mythology the valley was created when the gods showered flowers down from The heavens. Since then, so the local people say, the valley has been host to great sages Who attained enlightenment while meditating there.  

Floral diversity of the Valley of flowers

The floral wealth, biodiversity and its popularity all over the world prompted the Govt. of  Uttar Pradesh to designate 87.50 km square area as a national park in 1982. The step taken by the Uttar Pradesh Govt. was very important as this was done to preserve and conserve the ecological integrity of the entire Bhyundar Valley and also its floral diversity. Bio-diversity is just not pretty flowers, it is methodological study of flora. In Valley of flowers a totel of 521 species of vascular plants (Angiosperms, Gymnosperms,and Pteridophytes,) of 72 families and 248 genera have been recorded. Of these 499 were Angiosperms ( 61 families and 234 genera) 18 Pteridophytes and 4 Gymnosperms. There are 472 herbs, 41 shrubs and only 8 types of trees in the valley.

Floral glory   

The floral heritage diversity of Valley of flowers is due to its landscape diversity and diverse environmental factors like altitude, slopes, flatness of surface, proportions of rocks and boulders, presence or absence of river streams course etc. There are two major aspects in the Park. The Northen slopes are thickly forested with  birch (Betula Utilis) and rhododendron (Rhododendron campanulatum) up to an elevation of 3800m. The southern slopes at the base of rock wall consist largely of meadows,

Almost 200 to 300 species of wildflowers bloom here in natural way. Wherein some of the species are Anemone,Geranium, Marsh marigold, Primula, Potentilla, Geum, Asters, Lilium, Himalayan Blue poppy, Aconitum, Delphinium, Renunculus, Corydalis, Inula, Braham kamal, Campanula, Pedicularis, Arisaema, Morina, Impatiens, Bistoria, Ligularia, Anaphalis, Saxifrages, Trollius, Codonopsis, Epilobioum Rhododendrons and numerous others. Practically, most of the plants  in the valley are annual, having medicinal and other commercial values. These are, Aconitum balfourii(Mitha bish),Aheterophyllum (Atis), Geranium wallichianum(Ratanjot), Potentilla fulgens (Bajradanti), Allium stachayi (Pharan), Saussurea obvallate (Brahm kamal), The valley remains in bloom for three mounths while the floral composition keeps on changing every few days. By September the hue starts changing and autumn bids ferewell to flowers and the vegetation remains dormant for about next five mounth when the valley is snow bound. Start flowering Between mid-July and mid-August the valley is densely carpeted with flowers of different colors . With the advent of September all colors begin to fade away.

The Faunal Heritage  

The mammalian fauna enjoys comparatively poor distribution in the park.  O f the felines, the Leopard(Panthera pardus), snow Leopard (Panthera unica), Jungle cat (Felis chaus), are reported from the park. Himalayan Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus), Brown Bear (Ursus arctos), Jackal (Canis aureus), and Red fox (Vulpes vulpes), serow (Capricorns sumatraensis), Goral (Nemorhaedus goral), Tahr (Hamitragus jemlahicus), and Bharal (Pseudois nayaur), Musk deer (Moshus moschiferus), have been reported from the park.Game birds like partridges, pheasants, are rare in park area. others birds are Red headed bull finch, Green backed tit,Spot winged tit, Yellow billed magpie,cuckoos, kingfishers, woodpackers, bulbul, doves, is enjoy a rich distribution in the park vicinity. But the park harbors spectacular varieties of butterflies.