A Plant Hunters Trail
Sunday 23 April – Monday 08 May 2023

Please register to attend the online talk by Preveen (Nicky) Nicoll on Thursday 1 December 2022 at 7pm (UK time). Link here.

Come with us on a botanical trail in West Bengal and Sikkim, India. This is neither a trekking, field nor plant collecting trip. Instead, experience what it must have been like for plant hunters in the Victorian Era who dared the wilderness and dangers in search of new and exotic plants, now enjoyed in our gardens the world over. Sir Joseph Hooker was the first European to produce a comprehensive map and sketch these unknown territories in search of plants new to science. Unlike the plant hunters we will not be travelling on foot, but in comfortable air-conditioned vehicles on tar and dirt roads offering spectacular views of the mountains. Gentle walking with some steep inclines will be inevitable due to increase in altitude.     

We will start our botanical trail in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) which is the capital of West Bengal state. Founded as an East India trading post, it was India’s capital under the British Raj from 1773-1911. An afternoon sightseeing tour and a full day to see the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Gardens which is among the oldest and largest in South-east Asia. We will hear about the botanists and the plants they collected, who served as Superintendents during the pre-independent period. 

An hour’s flight takes us to stay on a magnificent tea estate, then onto Darjeeling, famous for its tea industry. Ride on the Toy Train, a UNESCO World Heritage site and at Tiger Hill (hopefully) view Mt Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. 

As our trail winds further north into the foothills of the Himalayas, it includes visits to garden nurseries and National Parks in Kalimpong, Gangtok, Lachung and to our most northly point Yumthang with breath-taking scenery.  We will also see that in most temples, towns and villages sacred trees and plants are part of the ecological life and plant worship is probably the oldest form of religion. This will be a unforgettable experience.

Trip Leader Perveen Nicoll BA (Honours)

Perveen Nicoll (Nicky) has a BA (Hons) in Art History, studied Ecology and Conservation at Birkbeck University of London and has an RHS Certificate in Horticulture.

Nicky has worked at Rothamsted Research, an agricultural research institution on the farm trials experiments. Also, at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the herbarium. Now part-time working in a major London Museum herbarium she has gained extensive knowledge of over 20 years mounting and repairing often historical dried pressed plants. She also helps to transcribe herbarium specimen labels (deciphering unfamiliar handwriting such as country, collector/s, dates, and locations) from the Indian subcontinent. These specimens document the world’s flora and provide a constant and permanent record of botanical biodiversity, a vital resource in the fight against climate change, habitat destruction etc.

Nicky is a co-author of a book, The Physic Garden in Hitchin, An illustrated Guide.

As a South London Botanical Institute member for many years, Nicky has led workshops teaching herbarium techniques of plant mounting. In 2019 she led a tour to Shimla visiting Rothney Castle home of Allan Octavian Hume. Her travels have also taken her to Nepal and Bhutan.

We will contribute £80.00 on each booking to The South London Botanical Institute to support their important work in botanical education. For more information please see www.slbi.org.uk