Presentation prepared and delivered by Seamus O'Brien. National Botanic Gardens, Kilmacurragh, Republic of Ireland at the Joseph Hooker bicentenary conference 'The Making of Modern Botany' at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 30 June 2017. . ABSTRACT: Joseph Hooker is one of the nineteenth century’s most widely-travelled botanists, though it is his 1848-49 travels to east Nepal and the independent kingdom of Sikkim that remain best-known. His exploration exposed the botanical riches of this biodiversity hotspot. Hooker was not oblivious to the horticultural potential of his new discoveries, particularly rhododendrons, of which he introduced dozens of new species to cultivation. Botany was just one of his many pursuits, trained in cartography he mapped much of Sikkim, including isolated mountain passes that led into Tibet. This was the era of ‘the Great Game’ and Hooker’s travels in this remote Himalayan kingdom later proved to be of enormous strategic value to the Admiralty who were footing the bill for his travels. Over a hundred and sixty years after Hooker blazed a trail, O’Brien led four expeditions to retrace his footsteps; the story will be published by Kew in 2018.

1. In the footsteps of Joseph Dalton Hooker
Seamus O’Brien.
National Botanic Gardens,
Kilmacurragh, Ireland.

2. Glasnevin & the Sikkim Himalaya

3. Glasnevin, Kilmacurragh & Sikkim
Rhododendron griffithianum.

4. The Sikkim expeditions – 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015
Lamuney, November 2014.

5. Expedition logistics

6. Hooker’s Sikkim route
• 1848-’49. Darjeeling
District & Sikkim
Darjeeling & Tonglu
Tumlong
Chungthang
Lachung
Yumthang
Donkiah La
Lachen
Thangu
Pemiongchi
Punkabaree
Katchenjunga
28,209 ft (8598 m)
 Dzongri

7. The Company’s Garden
Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta.

8. Across West Bengal, the Terai & Pankhabari
• Robert Fortune & Indian tea

9. Darjeeling – Queen of hill stations
Brian Hodgson

10. Brian Hodgson’s residence today
St. Paul’s School,
Darjeeling

11. Rhododendron dalhousieae
Lord & Lady Dalhousie
Lady Dalhousie’s rhododendron

12. Hooker’s rhododendrons on Tonglu

13. Marianne North, Kangchendzonga and Everest

14. The Via Sacra – Sanga Choeling

15. Pemayangtse

16. Tassiding Monastery
Cupressus cashmeriana

17. Singhik (Singtam of Hooker)

18. Lachen – the town

19. Hooker’s Rock at Thangu

20. North Sikkim
- Lachung

21. Yakchey, Lachung Valley
Rhododendron niveum – State tree of Sikkim

22. The Yumthang
Valley
Primula
denticulata
Bot. Mag. t. 3959 (1842)

23. The Donkiah La – a step too far!
With
Archibald
Campbell
October
1849

24. Tumlong -
Imprisonment
• November 1849

25. In the Footsteps of Joseph Dalton Hooker
– A Sikkim Adventure
Kew Publishing 2018