Chiraito

• Middle Hills
• High Mountains

Flowers inAugust, September, October

• 01It is so bitter that a tiny piece can flavour a whole jug of water.
• 02The plant lives only two years — it flowers once, makes seed, and dies.

• Taking too much

  How serious5/5

  Because it dies after seeding, pulling plants before the seed ripens ends that patch entirely. Collectors racing each other take them early.

• Rising heat

  How serious3/5

  Warmer hills push chiraito to higher ground, away from the villages that have always grown it.

• Take only what regrows

  Many Nepali medicine plants are disappearing because every last one gets dug up. There is a way to gather that leaves the plant alive.

• Save seeds

  Seeds are a plant’s way of sending itself into the future. Collecting and sharing them costs nothing at all.

• Start a school nursery

  One nursery can grow hundreds of seedlings a year. This is the single biggest thing a class can do together.

Scientific name

Swertia chirayita

Family

Gentianaceae