Lali Gurans

• Middle Hills
• High Mountains

Flowers inMarch, April, May

• 01The flowers are made into a tangy juice, and children in the hills eat the petals straight off the tree.
• 02Old gurans trees have twisted, peeling bark that looks like polished copper.

• Rising heat

  How serious4/5

  Gurans is now flowering weeks earlier than it used to. Flowers that open before the pollinating birds arrive set no seed.

• Drying springs and drought

  How serious3/5

  Rhododendrons have shallow roots and depend on damp forest soil. As hill springs dry, whole stands begin to die back.

• Plant a tree that belongs here

  A native tree feeds local birds and insects in a way an imported one never can. Choose one that already grows wild near you.

• 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.

Scientific name

Rhododendron arboreum

Family

Ericaceae