Jatamansi

• High Mountains
• High Himal & Trans-Himalaya

Flowers inJuly, August

• 01Its name means "matted hair", after the tangle of fibres on the root.
• 02The oil is used in perfume, which is why demand from far away decides what happens on a Nepali mountainside.

• Taking too much

  How serious5/5

  Only the root is wanted, so the whole plant is destroyed to collect it. Wild populations have fallen sharply.

• Rising heat

  How serious3/5

  Jatamansi lives near the upper limit of where anything grows. Warming squeezes that band from below.

• 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.

Scientific name

Nardostachys jatamansi

Family

Caprifoliaceae