Dalingkot Duar
More actions
| Dalingkot Duar | |
|---|---|
| Dalimkote Dooar, Darlingcote Dooar | |
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Regional Complex | Hindu Kush-Himalayan |
| Growing Region | The Dooars |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | West Bengal |
| District | Jalpaiguri |
| Coordinates | 26.80, 88.69 |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 91–207 m |
| Terrain | Foothill plain east of the Teesta: tea estates, secondary forest and garden plots |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Subtropical humid |
| Seasons | Monsoon (Jun–Sep), Winter (Nov–Feb) |
| Growing history | |
| Dated accessions | 2025 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 10 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | 1 documented Field grade: 1 Data deficient 1 not yet assessed |
| Holdings | Holdings: 1 Urgent |
| In a population | 3 of 10 accessions |
| Seed lots | 3 (3 Urgent) |
| Priorities | Grow-out priorities |
Dalingkot Duar is a landrace cannabis growing area in The Dooars of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India. It is named after Dalingkot, the westernmost of the duars, or passes, through which Bhutan held the plains along the foot of the hills until the Duar War of 1864–65. The area covers the Mal and Matiali community development blocks east of the Teesta, less Gorumara, which is a growing area of its own. A survey in June 2025 recorded feral cannabis at every site it visited here, and household plants at Washabari, Bagrakote and Satkaya.[1]
Geography
The area lies on the foothill plain east of the Teesta, below the Kalimpong hills. The 2025 survey sites lay between about 150 and 200 m: Washabari at about 200 m on the Siliguri–Bagrakote road, Bagrakote at 150–200 m on the edge of a large tea estate, and Mal Bazar, the subdivision headquarters, at about 167 m.[1] Around these settlements the survey found tea estates, secondary forest and small garden plots, with the ground rising quickly northwards into the hills.[1]
The Teesta is the western edge. In 1876 Hunter's Statistical Account described the river as the boundary of the duars, "dividing them from the permanently settled portion of the District".[2]: 226 The district west of the river is the Jalpaiguri growing area.
History
Bhutan held eleven duars along the northern frontier of Bengal, between the Teesta and the Manas. Captain R. B. Pemberton, reporting on his mission to Bhutan of 1837–38, listed them "counting from West to East", with Darlingcote first.[3]: 28 (Pemberton's report) Of the six from Darlingcote east to Buxa he could learn very little. Several of their districts had been regained by the rajas of Cooch Behar and the larger frontier zamindars, and their limits had become "most uncertain and confused".[3]: 28 (Pemberton's report) Among the rivers leaving the hills, he wrote, the Durlah entered the plains "by the celebrated Pass of Darlingcote".[3]: 43 (Pemberton's report)
Kishen Kant Bose, whose account of Bhutan was printed with Pemberton's report, placed the governor of Darlingcote under the Paro Pillo, the governor of Paro, with the collector of Kyrantee under him. He was the one officer under Paro who kept his collections, which paid for the garrison of the fort.[3]: 193 (Bose's account) The duars passed to British India at the end of the Duar War. The 1911 district gazetteer described the Western Duars as the tract "between the Tista and Sankos rivers", annexed to Bengal in 1865.[4]: 148
Cultivation
Feral populations
The 2025 survey found feral cannabis on disturbed ground: road verges, slopes prone to erosion, gravel margins and dry stream beds.[1] At Washabari a roadside stand on the northern edge of the village had strong skunk and fuel aromas. Behind the roadside eating houses near the Bagrakote market a self-seeding population of some 500 or more plants was recorded, with aromas running from skunk to medicinal. On the eastern edge of Mal Bazar, about 100 plants with deep red stems grew on gravel beside a dry stream bed behind a tea workers' settlement.[1] Seed was collected from each of these stands.
Household cultivation
Two cultivated plants grew beside a house in Washabari. Residents said that cannabis was grown in the village on a household scale, and on a commercial scale in secluded places towards the Bhutan border.[1] In Bagrakote an older homeowner grew a plant of more than 2 m against the outer wall of his compound, and had pulled up feral plants nearby to keep them from pollinating it. He gave seed saved from the previous year's plants. Flower bought in the Bagrakote market was almost seedless: about 100 g gave twenty seeds, which resembled the homeowner's seed in size and shape.[1] At Satkaya, east of Mal Bazar, a householder had planted several plants among a feral stand in his garden and kept a few more in pots.[1] No plants were seen in Mal Bazar itself; residents there said cultivation took place in the smaller villages around the town.[1]
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Collected | Locality |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250018 | Washabari Feral Selection 2025 | Washabari | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250019 | Bagrakote Feral Selection #1 2025 | Bagrakote | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250020 | Bagrakote Feral Selection #2 2025 | Bagrakote | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250021 | Bagrakote Selection 2024 | Bagrakote | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250027 | Mal Bazar Feral Selection 2025 | Mal Bazar | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250028 | Mal Bazar 'Sathkaya' Feral Selection 2025 | Mal Bazar | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0720250011 | Lataguri Feral Selection 2025 | Lataguri | |
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0720250012 | Lataguri General Population 2024 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0720250013 | Lataguri 'Neori Nadi' General Population 2024 | ||
| ZOM-IND-WEB-0720250014 | Lataguri 'Kajaldighi' General Population 2024 |
The Bagrakote population page brings the Bagrakote accessions together.
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See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Éloïse (30 June 2025). "Field Report #3: Western Dooars and the Kalimpong Range". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 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.
- ↑ Gruning, John F. (1911). Eastern Bengal and Assam District Gazetteers: Jalpaiguri. Allahabad: Pioneer Press – via Internet Archive.