superb two types of leaves need to search ..why?
is that a tree hollow where the child is standing? a fallen tree? usha di On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 8:34 PM, Ashwini Bhatia <[email protected]> wrote: > I left out one photo in the group that shows the sulphur yellow-brown > undersides of leaves. > > Here it is. > > Thanks. > Ashwini > > > > > On 29 January 2016 at 19:27, Ashwini Bhatia <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Last Sunday I went trekking in the mountains with my ten year old and a >> couple of friends. For me the idea was to see how the vegetation differs as >> the altitude increases. We started at about 1800m among the familiar chir >> pines, blue pines, deodar cedars, ban oaks, rhododendrons, *Neolitsea >> pallens*, staggerbush, sour cherry and wild pear. Till about 2000m the >> wood was similarly mixed with the same species. Just at that height, the >> rhododendrons (*R. arboreum*) began to dominate but some ban oaks (*Q. >> leucotrichophora*) and *Neolitsia pallens* still managed to grow among >> them. The understorey was still mostly sweetbox (*Sarcococca saligna*) >> and paper plant (*Daphne papyracea*) but the new addition was the >> butterfly bush (*Buddleja paniculata*). At about 2200m rhododendrons >> became the dominant trees and there were beautiful specimens, some of which >> were quite large with hollow boles. Above 2400m, I saw my first kharsu oak >> (*Q. >> semecarpifolia) *and admired its glossy dark leaves with brown >> undersides. A little further there were many large specimens of this >> beautiful oak and soon it dominated the hill sides. I saw a couple of >> Himalayan Holly plants in fruit too. >> >> At the top in Triund (ca. 3000m), where we had intended to reach, there >> were only kharsu oaks with an occasional rhododendron bush. Some >> cotoneaster (perhaps *C. rotundifolius*) plants with red fruits were on >> the slopes. I brought a few kharsu oak leaves down and photographed them to >> share here. >> >> Kharsu oak has been on these hills since ancient times making it one of >> the originals here. Acorns develop during the monsoon (hence I could not >> collect any for a close look) and are favourite foods of our sloth bears. >> The foliage is more nutritious that the ban oak and the shepherds collect >> it for their sheep when they are in the mountains. The leaves can be round >> and entire or oblong and spiky on the same tree. Many of the specimens were >> huge, reaching more than 60 feet. The larger ones had hollow trunks and I >> wonder how the trees survived on such outwardly flimsy support. >> >> >> *Quercus semecarpifolia*—Kharsu Oak >> 24 January 2016, >> 2400m and above, >> Between Gallu Temple and Triund, Mcleodganj, Dharamshala, HP >> >> >> Thanks. >> Ashwini >> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "efloraofindia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Usha di =========== -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
