The journey from Bhimtal to Pithoragarh was punctuated by beautiful burans trees (Rhododendron arboretum), the state flower of Uttarakhand. My colleagues in Uttarakhand described various facets of the flowers including how useful and tasty their juice is. Just the previous week I had witnessed the colourful state flower of Rajasthan — rohida (Tecomella undulata) — in Barmer district and my colleague there, who was from Uttarakhand, had told me that on the coming Uttarakhand visit, I would be seeing burans flowers in abundance. I promptly sent my pictures of 