India’s highest-altitude herbal garden with 40 species of Himalayan herbs, including some that are extremely rare and endangered, has come up at a height of 11,000 feet in Mana the last Indian village near Indo-China border.
The garden spanning three acres was built on van panchayat land by the forest department and inaugurated by Mana village pradhan.
It took the forest department three years to gather the herbs many of which are found in remote, inaccessible areas that remain snowbound for several months and grow them in Mana. The harsh weather in the village posed challenges it experiences snowfall for four months and severe rainfall for at least three months.
The park is divided into four zones. The first zone has Plants that generally grow at an altitude of 13,700 feet and above and have high medicinal value. It contains endangered Himalayan alpine species like Van Kakdi (podophyllum hexandrum) which is the only surviving species in its genus.