Buxa Duar (appellation)
More actions
| Buxa Duar | |
|---|---|
| Buxa Dooar, Baxa Dwar, Passakha | |
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Regional Complex | Eastern Plains |
| Growing Region | The Dooars |
| Growing Area | Alipurduar |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | West Bengal |
| District | Alipurduar District |
| Coordinates | 26.70, 89.41 |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 109–124 m |
| Area | 590 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately the Kalchini block with the Buxa Tiger Reserve in Alipurduar-I: plains and outer hills below the Buxa range |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Subtropical humid |
| Seasons | Monsoon (Jun–Sep), Winter (Nov–Feb) |
| Growing history | |
| Earlier names | Buxa (Eden 1865), Passakha (Bhutanese name), Baxa Dwar (Hunter 1876) |
| Dated accessions | 2025 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Buxa Duar is a landrace cannabis appellation in the Alipurduar growing area of The Dooars, in Alipurduar District, West Bengal, India. It is named after the Buxa duar, one of the passes through which Bhutan held the plains at the foot of the hills until the Duar War of 1864–65. The appellation covers the Kalchini community development block and the part of the Buxa Tiger Reserve in the Alipurduar-I block, less the Jaldapara and Chilapata forests. Its accessions are feral and landrace collections made in June 2025 around Kalchini, Hasimara and Hamiltonganj.
Geography
The appellation runs from the plains around Hasimara and Hamiltonganj north to the Bhutan border, and takes in the hills of the tiger reserve above Buxa. The Jaldapara and Chilapata forests lie along its western side, Lakhi Duar to the north-west and Kumargram to the east.
History
Each of the duars was a pass held by a Bhutanese officer, and the territory below it bore the name of the pass.[1]: 8 (Eden's report) Ashley Eden's report of 1864 gives Buxa as the fifth of the eleven Bengal duars, with its Bhutanese name, Passakha.[1]: 8–9 (Eden's report) Captain R. B. Pemberton's list of 1838 puts it in the same place, counting from the Teesta eastwards.[1]: 28 (Pemberton's report) Kishen Kant Bose listed the "Soubah of Passakha or Buxa Dooar" among the officers in the district of Thimpoo Zimpé, the governor of the fort of Tassisudon, and wrote that "the low-land country to the South is under him". Thimpoo Zimpé received 800 rupees from him.[1]: 193 (Bose's account)
The duars passed to British India at the end of the Duar War. In 1876 Hunter's Statistical Account noted that a yearly fair for trade between Bhutias and Bengalis was held at Alipur, "in the Baxá Dwár". Cotton, wax, salt, ivory, rhinoceros horn, ghee, tobacco, betel nut, blankets, fruit, rice and maize were sold or bartered there.[2]: 270 The 1911 district gazetteer placed the Buxa cantonment on one of the outlying spurs in the north-east of the district.[3]: 148
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Collected | Locality |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250050 | Kalchini Feral Selection #1 2025 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250051 | Kalchini Feral Selection #2 2025 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250052 | Hasimara Feral Selection 2025 | Hasimara | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250053 | Hasimara General Population 2025 | Hasimara | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250054 | Hamiltonganj Feral Selection #1 2025 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250055 | Hamiltonganj Feral Selection #2 2025 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250056 | Hamiltonganj Feral Selection #3 2025 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250057 | Hamiltonganj 'Giant Stank' Feral Selection 2025 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250058 | Hamiltonganj 'Candy Orange' Feral Selection 2025 |
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Political Missions to Bootan, Comprising the Reports of the Hon'ble Ashley Eden, 1864; Capt. R. B. Pemberton, 1837, 1838, with Dr. W. Griffiths's Journal; and the Account by Baboo Kishen Kant Bose (PDF). Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Office. 1865 – via Wikimedia Commons.
- ↑ Hunter, W.W. (1876). A Statistical Account of Bengal, Volume X: Districts of Darjiling and Jalpaiguri, State of Kuch Behar. London: Trübner & Co. – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Gruning, John F. (1911). Eastern Bengal and Assam District Gazetteers: Jalpaiguri. Allahabad: Pioneer Press – via Internet Archive.