This is neither a grass (family Poaceae, previously Gramineae) nor a Luzula (family Juncaceae). Luzula spicata is common on high meadows and passes in Kashmir @ 3900-5200m but the plant photographed above is certainly not this. See a pressed specimen collected by Jacquemont preserved at Kew: http://apps.kew.org/herbcat/getImage.do?imageBarcode=K000307561. There are a number of images of this species (known as the 'Spiked Woodrush' in the UK on the internet such as: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Luzula+spicata%22&tbm=isch&gws_rd=ssl#gws_rd=ssl&imgrc=YYhoA6cuXz3wmM%3A from New England. Cannot find any records of it being found in Uttarakhand or Nepal.
It appears to be a sedge to me (family Cyperaceae) with the suggestion of C.cruenta being worth checking out further - the images of the herbarium specimens at Kew seem similar to this. Stewart recorded this as common on high passes and meadows in Kashmir @ 2400-4200m including Ladakh, so I have an additional reason to look into this further, which I shall do so. It is recorded from Kashmir to Sikikim (and Tibet) @ 4000-5600m. The images are not in close-up, so if there are closely-related sedges then we may not be able to tell them apart with confidence (Carex is a large and difficult genus). However, the habit of the plant is clear enough. On Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 7:41:17 AM UTC, JM Garg wrote: > Wild Grass captured on 13/8/10 during the trek from Ghangaria (around > 11,000 ft.) to Hemkunt Sahib (around 14000 ft.). > -- > With regards, > J.M.Garg ([email protected] <javascript:>) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 > 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' > The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a *thousand species* > & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged > alphabetically & place-wise): > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg. You can also use > them for free as per liberal licensing conditions attached with each image > . > For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, > please visit/ join our Google e-group- Efloraofindia: > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix (more than 1460 members & > 55,000 messages on 29/11/10 & with a database of around 4300 species on > 31/10/10) > > -- 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.
