KASTURI KAMAL

Kasturi kamal plant looks like a wooly snow-ball. It is a densely white- or grey-wooly more or less globular high altitude plant. Stem 10-20 sm, stout, hollow, enlarged club-shaped and densely leafy above, base covered with black shining leaf bases. Leaves linear, coarsely toothed or lobed, embedded in dense wooly hairs. Flower-heads purple, cylindrical 1.3-2 cm long, deeply embedded in woolly hairs and densely clustered at the top of the stem. Kasturi kamal is native to the Himalayas, and found at altitudes of 4300-5600 m.

Medicinal uses: The wool of this herb is applied to cuts, where it sticks compactly, seals the wound, and stops the bleeding.

KALIZIRI

Kaliziri is a perennial herb commonly found in Western Himalayas, at altitudes of 550-4000 m. Flower-heads are erect, pinkish-purple, borne on long cottony stalks in open clusters on stems 2-5.5 ft. Flower-heads are 1.5-2 cm long, with bracts lanceshaped, long-pointed. Upper leaves are oblong, entire or toothed. Lower ones are mostly deeply lobed, white cottony beneath, 6-20 cm long. Flowering: March-August.

Medicinal uses: Leaf paste with mustard oil is rubbed on leucoderma and wounds. Root extract is taken for fever and colic. The seeds are carminative and used for horse-bites.

BRAHMA KAMAL

The Brahma Kamal, the much reverred flower of the Himalayas, is an excellent example of plant life at the upper limit of high mountains (3,000-4,600 m). The flowerheads are actually purple, but are enclosed in layers of greenish-yellow, papery, boat-shaped bracts. The flowers bloom at the height of the monsoons and abundant in high-altitude places like The Valley of Flowers. The bract-cover provides the warm space needed to bloom in the cold mountains. The flowers are used as offering in the hill temples, like the shrines of Badrinath. The thick curved root of the plant is applied to bruises and cuts, as part of local medicine. Brahma Kamal is the state flower of Uttarakhand. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this flower.

Snow Lotus was discovered by Bower at an elevation of 19,000 ft. In parts of Sikkim, where Himalayan conditions of climate prevail, we have a completely different class of flora. This where plants like the Snow lotus are found. The snow lotus is a high altitude plant (over 12,000 feet above sea level) with brilliant white flowers appearing over dark green leaves which grow through the rocks of mountain peaks. The flowers form in a dense head of small capitula, often completely surrounded in dense white to purple woolly hairs; the individual florets are also white to purple. The wool is densest in the high altitude species, and aid in thermoregulation of the flowers, minimising frost damage at night, and also preventing ultraviolet light damage from the intense high altitude sunlight. The term Snow Lotus is also used for related species S. involucrata and S. laniceps.

Medicinal uses: The whole plant is harvested in July and August to yield the herb that is used as a tonic for weakness, a therapy for menstrual disorders, and a remedy for arthritis. Due to the harsh environment of the snow lotus and the strong demand for its use in traditional herbalism, the snow lotus has become quite rare. Snow Lotus is native to the Himalayas.