Andrzej Zaki’s excavations in the Carpathian mountains, the Alps and the Andes are relatively well-known, however not many heard about his planned excavations in the Himalayas and in the Tibetan Plateau area. This paper is devoted to Andrzej Zaki’s preparations of the expedition, which was Professor’s another project regarding mountain archaeology. The expedition to the Himalayas and to the Tibetan Plateau planned for the end of the ’80s and the beginning of ’90s had been preceded by careful research on the history of human settlement in this area. The research was focused not only on written sources but it also included close contacts with the Office of Dalai Lama XIV living in Dharamsala. Polish Himalayan climber, Wanda Rutkiewicz also played a significant role in the project. The aim of the planned archaeological excavations near the chosen Buddhist monasteries was focused on the creation of a more precise chronology of antiques found during precedent excavations.

Our cytomorphological study of various populations of Elsholtzia ciliata (Lamiaceae) collected from high-altitude sites of Kashmir Himalaya revealed two euploid cytomorphotypes, diploid (n=8) and tetraploid (n=16), growing sympatrically but inhabiting two different habitats. This is the first report of tetraploid (4×) E. ciliata from the Indian subcontinent. We found the course of meiois to be normal in diploids, but tetraploid individuals showed chromosome and meiotic irregularities: cytomixis at early prophase I, stickiness at metaphase I, and chromosome bridges at anaphase I. In tetraploids, 23 of the 26 pollen mother cells observed at metaphase I showed 0-6 quadrivalents, suggesting that the tetraploid is a segmental allopolyploid. Microsporogenesis was also abnormal in tetraploids, showing the formation of triads. All these anomalies are conducive to lower reproductive potential (40.70%) in tetraploids than in diploids (90.50%). Significant morphological differences between the two cytotypes are presented.