Wildflower of the valley
Saussurea obvallata
Saussurea obvallata
- How easy to find
- Easy to see — you will see it easily on the trail
- Flower size
- Large
- Family
- Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
- Local name
- ब्रह्म कमल
- Height
- large
- Altitude
- 3000–4600 m
- Flower colour
- Red
- Flowering
- June to September
About Saussurea obvallata
The Brahma Kamal is the most reverred flower of the Himalayas. It is an excellent example of plant life at high mountains (3,000-4,600 m). The flowers found in monsoons and abundant in high-altitude places like The Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. Brahma Kamal flowers are used as offering to Nanda Devi Temple. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this flower.
Where to find it
- Around Hemkund Sahib
Habitat
In rocky slopes of moraines, among boulders.
Uses & folklore
This plant is applied to cuts and bruises as local medicine. Brahma Kamal is s herb in Tibetan medicine and it is Sah-du Goh-ghoo. It has a somewhat bitter taste and it promotes heat. It is Used to treat cerebral ischemia and paralysis of the limbs. Infact we can say the entire plant is used.
What the name means
Saussurea honours Swiss naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure; obvallata is Latin for "walled around", describing the papery bracts that enclose the flowerhead like walls of a Himalayan monastery.
Don't confuse it with
The Valley also has Saussurea gossypiphora (sno 23) and Saussurea simpsoniana (sno 37) — both woolly, high-altitude "snowball plants" but neither develops the papery pale bracts of Brahma Kamal.
