Trees of the Himalayas

There was little time to prepare for our trip to the Himalayas. I worried about whether I should pack Pradip Krishen’s field guide to the trees of Delhi, but then decided against it; after all most of this book dealt with trees of the plains. There are excellent guides to the birds of India, one for butterflies, ancient ones for other animal orders, and certainly nothing for the trees of the Himalayas. One of the few useful resources I came across was an excellent blog post on the trees of Shimla.

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  Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii)

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  White oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) and Rhododendron arboreum

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  Deodar (Cedrus deodara)

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The quick field guide which I made for myself can be useful on future trips. There is such an incredible variety of trees across the Himalayas that anyone could spend a lifetime studying them. The little part which is captured in this small list served me as landmarks to orient myself by.

Name	altitude	characteristics
Deodar (Cedrus deodara) Himalayan cedar	1700-2750 meters across Himalayas	conifer, 40-50 meters tall, 10 meters girth, generally grows on northern slopes search
Rai (Picea smithiana) spruce	2250-2750 meters Western Himalayas	conifer, 40-55 meters tall, 3 meters girth, higher branches are upward pointing, really long needles, generally grows on northern slopes search
Rau (Abies pindrow) silver fir	2500-3700 meters Western Himalayas	40-60 meters tall, 7 meters girth, gray-brown furrowed bark, overall conical shape with level branches, needles have a white streak on the underside, dark purple erect cones, generally grows on northern slopes search
Chir (Pinus roxburghii) Himalayan pine	500-2000 meters across Himalayas	heavy cone, 40-50 meters tall, 6 meters girth, rough bark, needles are arranged in bundles of three, prefers southern slopes search
Kail (Pinus wallachiana) blue pine	1800-4300 meters across Himalayas	long cone, 30-50 meters tall, needles are arranged in bundles of five, bluish in colour, generally grows on northern slopes search
Banj (Quercus leucotrichophora) Himalayan white oak	1500-2400 meters Western and central Himalayas	15-25 meters tall, twisted gnarled trunk, rounded canopy, underside of leaves is white and hairy, acorns edible search
Moru (Quercus floribunda) (also Quercus dilatata) Himalayan green oak	1700-2700 meters Western Himalayas	25-30 meters tall, 6-9 meters girth, straight trunk with dark reddish brown bark, leaves 4-6 cms long and green on both sides search
Kharsu (Quercus semiscarpifolia) Himalayan brown oak	2800-3250 meters Western Himalayas	25-30 meters tall, 4.5 meters girth, straight trunk with domed crown, dark grey bark broken into small plates, 2.5-10 cm long leaves, with brown underside search
Phaliyant (Quercus glauca) ring-cupped oak also Japanese oak	widespread	15-20 meters tall, straight trunk with domed crown, dark brown furrowed bark, leaves purple red when new, powdery blue-green underside when older search
Bras diverse genus rhododendron	1500-3000 meters across Himalayas	shrubs and small trees, glossy leaves, sometimes with a scaly underside, bright flowers search

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