Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden Newsletter Nr. 6 - February 2012 PHA TAD KE - T HE C LIFF T O U N T IE AND RESOLVE With this Newsletter we are proud to present our first book in French Fleurs de La Dévotion by Biba Vilayleck & Baj Strobel, as well as our first children books in Laos, published with the generous support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation - SDC. And thanks to you all our Tree Planting Action has raised over 25.000$ and we will have a busy start to the rainy season ! RI K GADELLA , PHA TAD KE BO T ANI C AL GA R DEN Content 1-4 Friends of Pha Tad Ke 5-9 News from Pha Tad Ke 10-12 Book Publications from Pha Tad Ke 13-20 Botanica of Laos by Elisabeth Vilayleck Ritual Flowers 21-23 Chroniques by Baj Strobel Les voies du Bonheur 24-29 Portfolio: Vatthana Siamkha 30-33 Some Books & Other Affairs we Love 34-38 Project Space • Luang Prabang The Pha Tad Ke Newsletter is distributed 3 times a year via e-mail. Big thanks to our volunteer collaborators, and if anyone is interested to writing articles or help us with occasional translations please let us know. © Pha Tad Ke & the authors, 2012. Subscription at www.pha-tad-ke.com Friends of Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden In January 2010 the Friends of Pha Tad Ke Association was created in France followed in July 2011 in the Netherlands and September 2011 in Laos. Each of these non-profit associations helps the creation of the Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden with scientific support, fund raising efforts and educational projects. In addition the Luang Prabang Fund for Culture and Conservation that was created in 2011 in the USA accepts donations that are tax-deductible for the benefit of Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden or other cultural and conservation projects in the Lao PDR. Helping the Friends of Pha Tad Ke will allow you to follow the day-to-day evolution of the garden, look behind the scenes of its operations and participate in the Pha Tad Ke adventure ! Information: www.friends-pha-tad-ke.com When you become a member for the creation phase, your 5-year (2010-2014) membership will entitle you to: Member - € 100: Members can increase their involvement in the • Sponsor a research post: € 1,800 for one year • Our newsletter (3 times a year, english/french) contains creation of Pha Tad Ke by supporting one or more of Given the heavy workload at the university and the very low news about the garden, on-going work and actions, our individual projects: salaries in Laos, there is little time left for building research and articles about the flora, arts and culture of Laos. projects. With this grant PTK will enable a post doc to do a • Adopt a tree: from € 50 to € 2,000 year’s research on a topic chosen in consultation with PTK. Friend Member - € 300: Buying and planting a tree is only a beginning. It must then • Private visit to PTK, including boat trip and picnic be fed, cared for and pruned. This takes time, money and • Sponsor a field trip: € 10,000 (for 2 pax, booking required) care. Love your tree and adopt a seedling or a mature tree. In conjunction with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, • A 30% reduction on the garden’s publications and we have set up a three-year partnership to train our hor- products (except Folies) • Sponsor a Bookparty: € 400 ticultural team and to carry out an ambitious program of • Access to our favoured travel agent in Laos, reductions Guided visits to the gardens for groups of children or monthly field trips to gather specimens for a collection of on hotels and restaurants etc. students, who will spend a day learning about Pha Tad living plants that will be unique in Laos. At the same time (see list of the partners of the Friends) Ke’s work and plants. The package includes transport to we will collect specimens for a herbarium. Each trip will • Mention of your name on our website the garden and lunch. At the end of the day, every partici- require a substantial investment in time and money but this • An invitation for two people to the official opening. pant will receive a copy of our specially published books. work is imperative as it will form the very foundations of our garden and its collections. Support Member - Institutions & Companies - € 2,000: • Sponsor a student: € 4,400 for 4 years • Mention of your name on our website with your logo In conjunction with three institutions, PTK has set up a • Sponsor a building: from € 15,000 • Discount of 10% on one of our editions « Folies » grant for the best first-year student. At the end of the first Several buildings will be required to house our collections • A private reception at the pre-opening for a group from year of study, the winning student will be offered a and staff, and provide facilities for visitors. your institution/company. scholarship that will allow him or her to continue his or her These buildings will include: Nurseries (€ 15,000), Orchid studies. In exchange, the recipient will be required to do a House (€ 27,000), Butterfly Farm (€ 32,000), Reception Donor Member - € 5,000 €, or more: two-month work placement at the garden during summer area (€95,000), Restaurant (€ 95,000), offices for research • Discount of 10% on two of our editions « Folies » recesses and to work at the garden for one year at the end staff (€ 130,000), Traditional Medicines House (€ 135,000) • Inclusion of your name on the donor plaque at the of his/her studies. and Library or Herbarium (€ 190,000). entrance to the garden. The newly founded Laos chapter of the Friends of Pha Tad Ke has received their first generous grant from the FSD. The president of the associaton, Mixay Somsanouk receives the grant at the French Embassy. Meeting of the Flora of Thailand in Chiang Mai November 2011 Meeting of the Southeast Asia Botanic Gardens Network in Xishuanbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and Kunming Botanical Garden December 2011 The Fund Raising Action PLANT A TREE launched in December 2011 has raised over 25.000$ A BIG THANKS TO YOU ALL ! we will be having a busy time planting before the next rainy season Training at the National Herbarium Laos sponsored by Pha Tad Ke in the use of Brahms software for taxonomic research. Field trip to Ban Chok, 20km from PTK with Anna Bazicaluppo botany student from Edinburgh participating. Visit of students from Souphanouvong University. Visit of students from National University Laos and Sydney University Study Tour. Delivery of our new pontoon, first step in the upgrading of our irrigation works, sponsored by the Dutch Friends of Pha Tad Ke. Yearly offering to the Spirits. Beating the new rice harvest. French botanist Patrick Blanc visits Pha Tad Ke Ethno-botanist Biba Vilayleck spend January 2012 3 months in PTK to work on the choice of plants and content of our ethno-botanic garden. We welcome Somsanith Bouamanivong, Director of the National Herbarium Laos, as a new member on the PTK Scientific Committee /HVÁHXUV After 2 years in preparation we are very proud to present GHODGpYRWLRQ HWKQRERWDQLTXHFXOWXHOOHDX/DRV(WKQRERWDQLTXHFXOWXHOOHDX/DRV Les Fleurs de la Dévotion %LED9LOD\OHFN %DM6WUREHO %,%$9,/$</(&. %$-6752%(/ Biba Vilayleck & Baj Strobel Book design by Olivier Leduc-Stein 204 pages, 339 illustrations, 25 x 22cm Published in French language January 2012, Price 35 $ / 29€ all orders at: [email protected] 1 3KD7DG.H%RWDQLFDOJDUGHQ Splendeur, sensualité, luxuriance qualifient les fleurs Splendid, sensuous, and lush, tropical flowers and plants et plantes tropicales du Laos ; bien qu’utilisées comme in Laos, also play a powerful role in Lao traditional life comestibles, pour leurs vertus médicinales ou comme not only as food, medicine and construction materials matériaux de construction, elles ont aussi un forte charge for shelter, but also as enduring spiritual symbols and symbolique et une fonction dans l’art religieux. delicate works of art. Delving thoughtfully into the living traditions of Buddhist practice in the ornate temples of Les auteurs, Michèle-Baj Strobel et Elisabeth Vilayleck Vientiane. ont observé avec attention les pratiques contemporaines de la tradition bouddhiste dans les temples monastères The authors, Michèle-Baj Strobel and Elisabeth Vilayleck, de Vientiane. Elles apportent ainsi un éclairage nouveau describe a rich tapestry of devotion and discipline in the sur le culte, les décors et l’art floral d’un peuple floral decoration, ceremony and symbols revered by profondément ancré dans son environnement naturel. generations of orange-clad monks and the people they Toutes les plantes utilisées (140) sont répertoriées par guide on the journey of life. leur nom lao, leur nom européen, quand il existe, et par All the140 plants described in the text are noted with their leur nom scientifique ; un glossaire et une bibliographie Laos, vernacular and scientific name, an index as well as complètent l’ouvrage. a bibliography complete the publication. We have also published three books written for Laos children from 6 to 12 years. All illustrations are made by Pha Tad Ke staff. Each book is printed in 6.000 copies with generous support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and distributed for free via an educational program through primary schools. Full color: 21 x 30cm. Dr. Boukhaykhone Svengsuksa ຕົ້ນໄມ້ ປຽບເໝືອນປອດຂອງພວກເຮົາ ເລັກໆນ້ອຍໆ ກ່ຽວກັບເຄື່ອງປ່າຂອງດົງ ດອກໄມ້ ທີ່ເປັນເອກະລັກຂອງຊາດ ແລະ ຊາວພຸດລາວ Trees of Laos ດຣ. ບົວໄຂຄອນ ສະແຫວງສຶກສາ ຂຽນໂດຍ ຄຳຟ້າ ຈັນທະວົງສາ ຂຽນໂດຍ ຮສ. ມະນີຈັນ ໄຊຍະວົງ ແຕ້ມໂດຍ ກົງເງິນ ແສງດີ ແຕ້ມໂດຍ ກົງເງິນ ແສງດີ ແຕ້ມຮູບ ກົງເງິນ ແສງດີ Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden - Luang Prabang Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden - Luang Prabang Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden - Luang Prabang Khamfa Chanthavongsa Plants of the Forest Manichanh Sayavong Flowers and Symbols of Buddhism in Laos BO T ANI C A D U LAOS P A R ELISA B E T H VILAYLE ck Ritual Flowers The bodies of those who use flowers in their devotions will give off the perfume of sandalwood and their mouths the fragrance of lotus.