Gilgit
More actions
| Gilgit | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Geography | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province/State | Gilgit-Baltistan |
| District | Gilgit District |
| Coordinates | 35.92, 74.31 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 730 km² |
| Terrain | Oasis plain on the right (south) bank of the Gilgit river round Gilgit town, with the side valleys of Kargah and Jutial; approximately Gilgit Tehsil south of the river |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Gilgit is a landrace cannabis growing area in the valley of the Gilgit river round the town of Gilgit, in Gilgit District. The district is administered by Pakistan as part of Gilgit-Baltistan. The Kashmir region has been disputed between India and Pakistan since the partition of 1947.[1] In August 1891 the travel writer E. F. Knight crossed fields of rice, millet, maize and Indian hemp in the oasis round the Gilgit fort.[2]: preface, 315–316 Cannabis plants were collected at Gilgit in 2012.[3] A survey of 2017–2018 recorded the whole plant in use at Kargha.[4]: 3, 16
The oasis
Knight reached Gilgit on 17 August 1891, after crossing from the Sai valley into that of the Gilgit river. From the plateau of Jutial he looked down on the fort and found it surrounded by "one of the largest and best-cultivated oases" he had seen since Kapalu. There the mountains stand back from the river and leave a broad plain on its right bank, watered by small streams. He walked through orchards of ripe peaches and under clusters of purple grapes, then across the grain and hemp fields, past the Dogra fort and barracks to the British Agency.[2]: 314–316
The Karakoram Conference of 1938 made the Gilgit river, from the Indus up to the mouth of the Ishkoman river, the southern limit of the Karakoram.[5] Gilgit town and Knight's oasis are on the river's right bank, its southern side.[2]: 316
Cannabis
An ethnobotanical study of Gilgit and the country round it, which collected specimens at 13 localities including Gilgit city and the Kargah nala, recorded cannabis under the local names thoonch and thounch at Gilgit, and charas, ganja and bhang in Urdu. The study calls the whole plant narcotic, tonic and sedative, and says it eases stomach ache and other pains. The seed is taken for a sore throat and is fed to hens, pigeons and other birds mixed with grain.[6] A survey of the medicinal plants of Gilgit-Baltistan, made between January 2017 and May 2018, recorded the whole plant of thoonch in direct use at Kargha.[4]: 3, 16
The herbarium of Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad holds cannabis sheets collected in Gilgit District in May 1977 at "Baseen" and at "Iutiol Nallah".[7][8] Two sheets collected at Gilgit in 2012 by the Pakistan team of the Flora of Pan-Himalaya are held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (herbarium code PE).[3][9]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing area yet.
See also
References
- ↑ "Kashmir". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 October 2026. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Knight, E. F. (1896) [1893]. Where Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent Travel in Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the Adjoining Countries (New ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Co. – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Occurrence 4042753852: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Salim, Muhammad Asad; Ranjitkar, Sailesh; Hart, Robbie; Khan, Tika; Ali, Sajid; Kiran, Chandni; Parveen, Asma; Batool, Zahra; Bano, Shanila; Xu, Jianchu (28 January 2019). "Regional trade of medicinal plants has facilitated the retention of traditional knowledge: case study in Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 15 6. doi:10.1186/s13002-018-0281-0.
- ↑ Mason, Kenneth, ed. (1938). "Karakoram Conference report". The Himalayan Journal. 10. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Qureshi, Rizwana Aleem; Ghafar, S. A.; Ghufran, Muhammad Asad (2007). "Ethnobotanical Studies of Economically Important Plants of Gilgit and Surrounding Areas, Pakistan". Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research. 50 (1): 60–67. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 1978567286: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 2234225039: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ "Occurrence 4042754546: Cannabis sativa L." GBIF. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 20 October 2026.