Phyllanthus emblica
Terai · Siwalik (Chure) · Middle Hills
A small sour fruit packed with more vitamin C than an orange. Eat one and the next sip of water tastes sweet.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Contents
Plants of Nepal
Ecosystem
Climate change
Environment-friendly behaviour
Plants of Sindhuli
- Province
- Bagmati
- Elevation
- 300–2500 m
- Belts
- Siwalik (Chure) · Middle Hills
0 m300–2500 m8,848 m
The weather here
The first low hills above the plains. Loose, fragile soil and thick sal forest. Rain runs off fast here, so landslides are common.
12
plants
These plants grow in the belts this district spans. Not all have been individually recorded here.
Dendrocalamus hamiltonii
Terai · Siwalik (Chure) · Middle Hills
Not a tree at all — bamboo is a giant grass, and one of the fastest growing plants on Earth.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Pinus roxburghii
Siwalik (Chure) · Middle Hills
The pine of the middle hills, with long needles and sticky resin that smells sharp and sweet.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Swertia chirayita
Middle Hills · High Mountains
A bitter mountain herb used for fever. Many hill families earn real money growing it — which is why growing it matters more than digging it.
At risk
Grows in this belt
Senegalia catechu
Terai · Siwalik (Chure)
A thorny tree of dry riverbeds. Its heartwood is boiled down to make katha, the brown paste used in paan.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Rhododendron arboreum
Middle Hills · High Mountains
Nepal’s national flower. When the hills turn red in spring, this is the tree doing it.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Alnus nepalensis
Middle Hills
The tree that repairs broken land. Alder is usually the first thing to grow back on a landslide scar.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Ficus religiosa
Terai · Siwalik (Chure) · Middle Hills
The tree with heart-shaped leaves that whisper in the smallest breeze. Almost every Nepali village square has one.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Shorea robusta
Terai · Siwalik (Chure)
The great tree of the Terai forests. Its timber is so strong that Nepali houses built from it stand for a hundred years.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Bombax ceiba
Terai · Siwalik (Chure)
In late winter the simal drops every leaf and covers itself in huge red flowers instead. Birds come from everywhere to drink.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Dalbergia sissoo
Terai · Siwalik (Chure)
A fast riverside tree of the Terai, planted along roads for shade and prized for furniture wood.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt
Zanthoxylum armatum
Middle Hills
A thorny shrub whose peppery seed makes your tongue tingle and go slightly numb. Nepali pickle would be lost without it.
Doing okay
Grows in this belt