Details:
Village(s): Lapas, Brown Nullah
District: Manikaran
Province: Himachal Pradesh
Area: Parvati Valley
Region: Northwest India
Appellation: Lapas
Country: India
Regional Planting: Spring
Regional Harvest: October to November
Height: 1-4 metres
Classification: NLD type Landrace population
 
General Info:
Lapas Village sits on a southerly exposed slope below ‘Sargi Top’ and above the entrance to ‘Brown Nullah’ Valley and Manikaran at 2500m within Parvati valley itself. Access to the village is easier with the new road however it’s still impassable for most vehicles except 4x4s. It’s a 45 minute trek to the village’s mandir from the main road.

Most of the fields themselves begin above the village below ‘Sargi Top’ at 2600m and wrap around the mountain along the southern and eastern flanks all the way up to Gunguni Dhar at about 3500m.

‘Brown Nullah’ - whose name we could never figure out - is the valley in between Gargi and Lapas to the north of both villages. It is not permanently settled but very large fields extend from Sargi over the ‘Top’ into the ‘Brown Nullah’ and continue on into this isolated valley. As a note, the soil quality is much improved in ‘Brown Nullah’ compared to Lapas itself largely on account of the difficulty in bringing environmentally damaging soil amendments all the way into the valley and up to the fields.

Prem Baba *not his real name* is a member of our collective and local to Lapas village who keeps many high quality fields around the village including a small plot next to his house which is reserved for seeds selected from the best plants found in his larger fields further away. We made a selection from his ‘hashplant’ amongst the most trichome dense females with the most explosive growth and vigour. 

Plants in the valley are most prized by locals when exhibiting ‘mango’ aromas although a spectrum of terpene profiles is found in the fields. The isolated Brown Nullah fields in particular though Lapas as a whole is filled with very interesting plants with unique smells including rotten meat and burnt rubber though the majority exist on an axis from garlic to a floral, sweet fruitiness that occasionally ripens into mango.  
 
Accession info:
Please see our guide to how the accessions are classified and named here.
The following accessions were made from September to November 2022.
 
Lapas Village General Population
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: N/A
Altitude: 2400-2800m
Height: 1.5-3 metres
 
Lapas Village Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: N/A
Altitude: 2400-2800m
Height: 1.5-3 metres
 
Lapas ‘Upper’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: ‘Upper’
Altitude: 2600-2900m
Height: 1.5-3 metres
 
Lapas ‘Sargi Top’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: ‘Sargi Top’
Altitude: 2900-3400m
Height: 1.5-3 metres
 
Lapas ‘Gunguni Dhar’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: ‘Gunguni Dhar’
Altitude: 3400-3500m
Height: 1.5-3 metres
 
Lapas ‘Brown Nullah’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: ‘Brown Nullah’
Altitude: 2500-3000m
Height: 1.5-4 metres
 
Lapas ‘Prem Baba’s’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: Lapas Village
Altitude: 2500-3000m
Height: 1.5-4 metres

 
Lapas ‘Tiny Seed’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: ‘Upper’
Altitude: 2900m
Height: 1.5-4 metres
 
Lapas ‘Big Seed’ Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Domesticate Landrace
Lieux-dit: Lapas Village
Altitude: 2500m
Height: 1.5-4 metres
 
Lapas Feral Selection
Type: Open Pollinated Feral Landrace
Lieux-dit: N/A
Altitude: 2400-2600m
Height: 1.5-4 metres