Hemsl.
Description
Microula sikkimensis Hemsl. is a Sino-Himalayan herb recorded by GBIF in China, Nepal, Bhutan and India, with 1011 occurrences documenting a fairly continuous distribution along the higher Himalaya and into south-western China. It grows on open slopes, grassy banks, fallow ground, trail margins and forest clearings in the temperate to subalpine zones, typically between about 2500 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Nangsephal in Bhutan, at roughly 2850 m in October, reflects its occurrence in the cool temperate belt of the eastern Himalaya and its persistence into the autumn.
The species is a hispid annual or short-lived herb with spreading, bristly stems clothed in stiff, often pustular-based hairs typical of the family. The leaves are alternate, oblong to lanceolate, sessile or short-petiolate and roughly hairy on both surfaces. The flowers are small and borne in leafy-bracted cymes; the corolla is blue to bright blue with a short tube, a spreading five-lobed limb and small scales (fornices) closing the throat. The fruit characteristically separates into four nutlets that bear a dorsal aperture and marginal teeth or wings, a diagnostic feature of the genus Microula.
Microula is a genus largely centred on the Himalaya and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, distinguished within the Boraginaceae by its sculptured, apertured nutlets, and M. sikkimensis is among its more widespread and variable species. The barbed or toothed nutlets promote epizoochorous dispersal, attaching to animal fur and clothing, which aids colonisation of disturbed ground. The species is common across its range and of no conservation concern, forming a characteristic element of the weedy and meadow flora of the central and eastern Himalaya.
Author: Hemsl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Riedl Boraginaceae of the Himalaya