Botanists Work to Save Palm Trees from Extinction Threat

Palm trees are common in the plains or near the sea beach but it is rare in the hills. This is a surprise,  it is available in the chill weather of the hill station of Darjeeling.

Now, botanists are teaching the people of Santook-Mirik, a forest community, to save the plant from extinction.

There is now just one Windamere palm tree—named after the well-known Darjeeling hotel—in the little Kalimpong forest, which is the only area where it is found growing naturally.

Now, botanists are teaching the people of Santook-Mirik, a forest community, to save the plant from extinction.

The threat to the palm was almost accidentally identified last year by Rajib Gogoi, the director of the Botanical Survey of India's (BSI) Sikkim Himalayan Regional Centre.

Gogoi had previously 2023 visited British botanist Henry Noltie, who had "discovered" the palm, during a two-month visit to the UK. His curiosity was piqued when Noltie informed him that the Windamere palm was indigenous to a little region centred on a single Kalimpong hamlet.

There is now just one Windamere palm tree—named after the well-known Darjeeling hotel—in the little Kalimpong forest, which is the only area where it is found growing naturally.

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"For us botanists, the wild species are more important because villagers' plants sometimes contain hybrids."

During the Edinburgh Sikkim Expedition in 1992, researchers were first made aware of a "strange" trachycarpus in Darjeeling by Noltie of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Noltie had spotted two of these trees in the Windamere Hotel's Darjeeling garden.

Research verified that the tree, Trachycarpus latisectus, was indigenous to a narrow area of Kalimpong woodland. After the location of its discovery, it was given the name Windamere palm.

Gogoi's encounter with Noltie was prompted by a book that the BSI specialist co-authored with four other botanists last year on the rhododendrons of Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Samuel Rai, co-author of the book and head of the directorate of cinchona and other medicinal plant plantations, claimed that botanists from all over the world valued their work.

There is now just one Windamere palm tree—named after the well-known Darjeeling hotel—in the little Kalimpong forest, which is the only area where it is found growing naturally.

The reason behind the palm's threat of extinction in the wild is unknown to botanists. But as an attractive plant, it has been shipped all over the world throughout the years.

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Early last week, the directorate of Cinchona and the BSI (Sikkim chapter) agreed to work together to launch an awareness campaign in Santoor-Mirik. The people were informed by Rai and Gogoi that the tree needed to be preserved.

We discovered that the peasants were receiving Rs 50 for every kilogram of palm seeds. 100–150 seeds are possible in one kilogram. A single seed costs Rs 150, according to the different websites, Gogoi stated.

The awareness campaign informs the villagers that the people to whom they are selling the seeds are not giving them what they deserve.

"If the villagers can negotiate a better price for the seeds, their earnings could increase." To encourage travel, it (the Windamere palm in the wild) may also be sold, according to Gogoi.

Samuel Rai was able to track down Victor Rai, a villager who had assisted the group of foreign botanists who had come for the original investigation following Noltie's discovery in identifying the plant.