Author

GP Jürgens

Begoniaceae

Begonia ovatifolia

by GP Jürgens

A.DC.

Bhutan2015 229
Bhutan Zhemgang 950m, October
Bhutan2015 226
Bhutan Zhemgang 950m, October

Description

Begonia ovatifolia A.DC. is an eastern Himalayan herb known from Bhutan, north-eastern India and Nepal, a comparatively narrow-ranging species with few records (GBIF lists about 58 occurrences). It is a plant of shaded, humid situations – moss-covered rock faces, stream banks, damp ravines and the floor of evergreen broad-leaved forest – at low to mid elevations. The illustrated material was collected at Zhemgang in central Bhutan at about 950 m in October, where the monsoon-fed forests provide the perennially moist, sheltered microhabitat that suits the genus.

It is a perennial herb with succulent, often reddish-tinged stems arising from a fibrous-rooted or shortly rhizomatous base. The leaves are alternate, asymmetric (oblique) at the base as is typical of Begonia, ovate in outline with an acuminate apex and a finely serrate to denticulate margin, the lamina sometimes sparsely hairy. The plants are monoecious, bearing unisexual flowers in axillary cymes; the staminate flowers have showy tepals and a cluster of yellow stamens, the pistillate flowers an inferior, conspicuously 3-winged ovary with branched stigmas. The fruit is a winged capsule, one wing usually larger, dehiscing to release very numerous minute seeds.

Begonia (Begoniaceae) is one of the largest angiosperm genera, with the Sino-Himalayan species forming a centre of diversity and high local endemism. B. ovatifolia belongs to this assemblage of forest-floor herbs whose narrow distributions make them sensitive to habitat loss and forest disturbance, though the species is not formally assessed. Its inferior winged ovary and dust-like seeds are characteristic adaptations for dispersal in the humid, low-light understorey it occupies.

Author: A.DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Begonia treatment in Flora of British India, Tebbitt studies of Asian Begonia, Camfield & Hughes phylogeny of Begonia

Begoniaceae

Begonia rubella

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Bhutan2015 228 ergebnis
Bhutan Zhemgang 910m, October

Description

Begonia rubella is a Himalayan herb ranging through Nepal, northern India and Bhutan, with scattered GBIF records (67 occurrences) extending the data to Papua New Guinea, which most likely represents misidentification rather than a genuine disjunction. It is a plant of shaded, humid microhabitats — moist rock faces, stream banks, damp ravines and the floor of broadleaved subtropical to lower-temperate forest — where constant atmospheric moisture and deep shade prevail. The illustrated plant from Zhemgang in central Bhutan at about 910 m, in October at the close of the monsoon, exemplifies its preference for warm, wet, low-montane valleys.

The species is a soft, succulent perennial herb arising from a tuberous or rhizomatous rootstock, with erect to ascending, somewhat fleshy, reddish-tinged stems (the epithet rubella alluding to this colouring). The leaves are alternate, markedly asymmetric (oblique) at the base as is typical of the genus, ovate to broadly ovate, acuminate, irregularly toothed and often flushed red beneath. The flowers are monoecious and zygomorphic, pink to rose, borne in axillary cymes; staminate flowers bear numerous stamens, pistillate flowers an inferior, conspicuously 3-winged ovary. The fruit is the characteristic unequally 3-winged dehiscent capsule shedding minute seeds.

Begonia, the sole large genus of Begoniaceae, is one of the most species-rich angiosperm genera, and the Sino-Himalayan region is a notable centre of diversity. B. rubella belongs to the assemblage of tuberous Himalayan begonias adapted to a strongly seasonal monsoon climate, dying back in the dry winter. Like many narrowly distributed forest begonias it depends on undisturbed humid shade, making it sensitive to forest clearance, though horticultural interest in the group has aided its documentation.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of British India, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Begonian Resource (Begoniaceae monographic studies)

Begoniaceae

Begonia satrapis

by GP Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Nepal 95 12 P19 ergebnis
Nepal Gorkha 1200m, Octobre

Description

Begonia satrapis C.B.Clarke is a perennial herb of shaded, humid forest in the eastern Himalaya. It is a regional endemic of restricted distribution; GBIF records it only from India and Bhutan with a small number of collections (about 15), and it is also reported from the central Himalaya, consistent with the illustrated plant from Nepal, Gorkha, at 1,200 m in October. It grows in moist subtropical to lower temperate broad-leaved forest, on damp mossy banks, rock ledges and ravine sides where humidity is high and light is diffuse, typically between roughly 1,000 and 2,000 m.

The plant is a monoecious, succulent-stemmed herb with an erect or ascending, often reddish, somewhat fleshy stem. The leaves are alternate, markedly asymmetric (oblique) at the base as is characteristic of the genus, ovate to broadly ovate with an acuminate apex and a serrate to shallowly lobed, ciliate margin, often bearing a reddish flush or marking on the upper surface. Flowers are unisexual and borne in axillary, dichasial cymes; the staminate flowers have a few perianth segments and a cluster of yellow stamens, while the pistillate flowers bear an inferior, conspicuously winged ovary. The fruit is a pendulous, three-winged, many-seeded capsule with one wing typically larger than the others.

Begonia is one of the largest angiosperm genera, and the Sino-Himalayan species form a notable centre of diversity. B. satrapis belongs to the Asian herbaceous assemblage in which winged-capsule morphology and oblique foliage are diagnostic. Its narrow range and dependence on undisturbed humid forest make populations sensitive to habitat loss, although it has not been formally assessed.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China Vol. 13, Tebbitt: Begonias – Cultivation, Identification and Natural History

Begoniaceae

Begonia xanthina

by GP Jürgens

Hook.

Bhutan2015 132
Bhutan Galephug 600m, October
Bhutan2015 135
Bhutan Galephug 600m, October

Description

Begonia xanthina is a herbaceous perennial of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Indo-Burma, recorded from northeastern India, Bhutan, Nepal, southern China and Myanmar, with cultivated occurrences in Belgium and the Netherlands; GBIF holds about 61 georeferenced records. It inhabits shaded, humid evergreen forest, growing on moist rocks, mossy banks, ravine sides and seepage slopes at low to mid elevations, favouring deep shade and the high humidity of monsoon forest. The photographed plant from Gelephu (Galephug) in southern Bhutan at 600 m in October is typical of these warm, wet subtropical foothill forests where it flowers in the post-monsoon season.

It is a rhizomatous, monoecious herb with a stout creeping rhizome and few large basal leaves. The leaves are broadly ovate, markedly asymmetric (oblique) at the base, cordate, often coloured deep green above with reddish or purplish tinting beneath and a long fleshy petiole. The inflorescence is an axillary cyme borne on an erect peduncle, carrying showy nodding flowers; the tepals are yellow, the staminate flowers with four tepals and numerous yellow stamens, the pistillate flowers with an inferior, three-winged ovary bearing unequal wings and twisted bifid stigmas. The fruit is a pendulous winged capsule dehiscing to release minute seeds.

Described by W.J. Hooker, Begonia xanthina is notable as one of the few yellow-flowered Asian begonias, placed in section Platycentrum, and has long been valued in horticulture for its handsome foliage and unusual flower colour. Its monoecious habit and reliance on small generalist insect pollinators are typical of the genus. Restricted to specialised forest microhabitats, it is sensitive to habitat loss, and conservation of intact foothill forest is important for its persistence.

Author: Hook. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Begonias of the Himalaya (Tebbitt)

Berberidaceae

Berberis angulosa

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson

Bh09 146 P260
Bhutan Labana 4000m, June

Description

Berberis angulosa Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson is a deciduous, spiny shrub of the high Himalaya. GBIF (around 164 occurrences) confirms a core range across Nepal, southern China (Tibet), Bhutan and northern India, the remaining scattered records reflecting cultivated or herbarium material outside the native area. It is a plant of subalpine and alpine zones, growing on open slopes, among rocks, in shrubberies and at the upper forest margin, typically between 3,000 and 4,300 m. The specimen photographed at Labana in Bhutan at 4,000 m in June represents the species near the upper limit of its altitudinal range, flowering early in the short alpine season.

The shrub is low and densely branched, often less than a metre high, with terete to angled, reddish-brown young shoots and stout, usually three-parted spines derived from modified leaves. The foliage leaves are clustered in axillary fascicles, obovate to spathulate, entire or with a few spinulose-dentate margins, often glaucous beneath. The flowers are comparatively large for the genus, solitary or in few-flowered clusters, with the typical Berberis arrangement of sepals and petals in whorls of three and six stamens that respond to touch; they are yellow, sometimes flushed reddish outside. The fruit is an ellipsoid red berry, glaucous when young, containing few seeds.

Berberis angulosa is distinguished within the large and taxonomically difficult Sino-Himalayan Berberis assemblage by its relatively large, often solitary flowers and conspicuous berries. Like other species of the genus it is a host in the alternation of the wheat-rust fungus and is valued locally for its edible fruit and the yellow alkaloid berberine in its bark and wood. Its high-elevation, cold-adapted habit makes it a characteristic component of Himalayan alpine scrub communities.

Author: Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of China Vol. 19, GBIF, Ahrendt: Berberis and Mahonia, a taxonomic revision (1961)

Berberidaceae

Berberis aristata

by GP Jürgens

DC.

Bhutan2014 866
Bhutan Chele-La 3000m, May

Description

Berberis aristata is a widespread Himalayan barberry native to Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan and China and now naturalised or cultivated far beyond, the very large dataset of c. 926 records including introductions in New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, South Africa and parts of Europe and North America. Within its native range it occupies open hill forest, scrub, forest margins, ravines and dry rocky slopes of the temperate Himalaya, broadly between about 1800 and 3500 m. The plant was photographed at Chele-La in Bhutan at 3000 m in May, a site characteristic of the species, flowering in spring on sunny, well-drained montane slopes.

It is a spiny, much-branched evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub up to about 3.5 m, the older bark yellowish-brown and the wood bright yellow. The nodes bear stout three-fid spines (modified leaves), in whose axils the true leaves are clustered in fascicles on short shoots; the leaves are obovate to elliptic, leathery, with spinulose-toothed margins. The flowers are golden-yellow, borne in pendulous or corymbose racemes, with the typical berberidaceous arrangement of sepaloid and petaloid whorls, six stamens with sensitive, irritable filaments, and a single carpel. The fruit is an ovoid bluish-black berry covered with a glaucous bloom.

Berberis (Berberidaceae) is a large genus distinguished from the related Mahonia by simple leaves and spiny stems, and B. aristata is among its most economically important Asiatic species. The yellow inner bark and roots are rich in the alkaloid berberine and yield "rasaut," used extensively in Ayurvedic and folk medicine, while the berries are edible. Widespread, ecologically tolerant and weedy where introduced, it is in no way threatened; rather, its medicinal harvesting and invasive potential abroad are the chief concerns associated with it.

Author: DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton), Ahrendt monograph of Berberis and Mahonia

Berberidaceae

Berberis insignis

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2014 336
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, May

Description

Berberis insignis is an evergreen barberry of the eastern Himalaya, native to Nepal, India, Bhutan and adjacent China, with its 161 georeferenced occurrences also reflecting cultivated material in Britain, the United States and elsewhere. It inhabits cool, moist temperate forest, shrubberies and shaded ravine margins, frequently in the rhododendron and oak belt. The specimen recorded at Tumching-La in Bhutan at 2900 m in May illustrates its occurrence in the upper temperate zone and its late-spring flowering, when the conspicuous yellow blossoms appear among the previous season's foliage.

Distinctively for the genus, B. insignis is a spineless or nearly spineless shrub, lacking the stout nodal thorns of most barberries. The leaves are large, leathery and lustrous, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, with strongly spinulose-toothed margins and a prominently reticulate venation, borne in tufts on short shoots. The flowers are golden-yellow, clustered in dense axillary fascicles; each flower has the typical berberidaceous arrangement of sepals and petals in whorls of three, with six stamens that respond to touch, and a single carpel. The fruit is an ellipsoid to oblong berry, ripening dark blue-black with a glaucous bloom.

Berberis is a large genus traditionally divided into spiny-leaved evergreen and deciduous groups; B. insignis is notable for combining bold evergreen foliage with the absence of stem spines, characters that have made it a recognised parent in horticulture. Within its native range it is locally frequent in undisturbed forest, and its broad eastern-Himalayan distribution indicates no immediate conservation concern.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The genus Berberis monograph (Ahrendt), Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton)

Berberidaceae

Berberis praecipua

by GP Jürgens

C.K.Schneid.

Bhutan2014 590
Bhutan Gogona 3000m, May
Bh2008 25 P43
Bhutan Paro 2300m, April

Description

Berberis praecipua is an eastern Himalayan barberry centred on Bhutan and adjacent India, Nepal and southern China, with about 39 occurrences (the additional records from Canada and Britain representing cultivated or herbarium material). It grows in temperate forest margins, open hillsides, scrub and clearings, typically between roughly 2300 and 3300 m. The photographed plants from Gogona at 3000 m (May) and Paro at 2300 m (April) in Bhutan illustrate its spring flowering across this montane belt, where it occupies sunny, well-drained slopes within and around mixed conifer and broad-leaved forest.

It is a deciduous, much-branched spiny shrub with terete, often reddish-brown young shoots armed with three-fid spines derived from modified leaves. The foliage leaves are clustered on short shoots in the axils of the spines, obovate to oblanceolate, with an entire to spinulose-toothed margin, glaucous beneath. The flowers are yellow, borne in pendulous racemes or fascicles, each with the typical Berberis arrangement of six sepals in two whorls, six petals each bearing two basal nectariferous glands, and six stamens with sensitive filaments and valvate anther dehiscence. The ovary is superior and unilocular, ripening into an ellipsoid to oblong berry that is red to purplish-black and often pruinose, containing few seeds.

Berberis is a large, taxonomically intricate genus in which the Himalayan deciduous species form a difficult complex separated on fruit, leaf and inflorescence characters; B. praecipua C.K.Schneid. is the accepted name. The bright flowers are insect-pollinated, with the touch-sensitive stamens promoting pollen transfer, while the fleshy berries are dispersed by birds (ornithochory). As a relatively localised eastern Himalayan endemic it has not been formally assessed but appears locally frequent within its range.

Author: C.K.Schneid. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Ahrendt Berberis and Mahonia: A Taxonomic Revision

Berberidaceae

Berberis virescens

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f.

Bh09 251 G419
Bhutan Wanghdi 1900m, June
Nepal 2009 12 ergebnis
Nepal Helambu Sheno-Okrini 2200m, May

Description

Berberis virescens is a deciduous Himalayan barberry distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and southern Tibet, the numerous additional GBIF country codes reflecting its long cultivation in botanic gardens of Europe, North America and East Asia. In the wild it occupies open slopes, forest edges, scrub and clearings in the temperate zone, generally between 2,500 and 3,500 m. The vouchered plants derive from Wangdue in Bhutan at about 1,900 m in June and from Sheno-Okrini in the Helambu of Nepal at around 2,200 m in May, within the lower part of its montane range where it flowers in late spring.

The species is a shrub up to about 2 m tall with reddish young shoots that become greenish, giving the epithet, and bearing simple, often three-parted spines at the nodes. The leaves are obovate to narrowly spathulate, thin-textured and clustered on short shoots, with entire or sparsely spinulose margins and a glaucous lower surface. The flowers are yellow, borne in few-flowered fascicles or short racemes, with the typical Berberis arrangement of six sepals, six petals and six stamens that snap inward on contact. The fruit is an ellipsoid to oblong berry, red ripening to blackish and often pruinose, containing a few seeds.

Berberis is a large, taxonomically intricate genus in which species are separated by spine, leaf, inflorescence and berry characters; B. virescens is recognised by its green twigs and red autumn fruit. Like its relatives it is an alternate host for rust fungi and a source of the alkaloid berberine. The species is widespread, hardy and frequently grown ornamentally, and is not considered to be of conservation concern.

Author: Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19 (Berberidaceae), Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Ahrendt: Berberis and Mahonia, A Taxonomic Revision

Rhamnaceae

Berchemia floribunda

by GP Jürgens

(Wall.) Brongn.

Nepal 97 582 P1121
Nepal Sabha-Khola 560m May

Description

Berchemia floribunda is a widely distributed scrambling shrub or woody climber of East and South Asia, recorded from China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Bhutan, with more than six thousand documented occurrences. It grows in forest margins, thickets, scrub and hedgerows from the lowlands into the lower montane zone, clambering over shrubs and small trees by means of its long flexuous branches. In Nepal it descends to warm subtropical foothills, as shown by the collection along the Sabha Khola at about 560 m in May, coinciding with its flowering season.

The plant is a deciduous liana with slender, glabrous, often zigzag branchlets. The leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptic, entire, acute to shortly acuminate at the apex and rounded at the base, with numerous fine, parallel, arching lateral veins that give the lamina a neatly pinnate-veined appearance. The inflorescence is a large, lax terminal panicle of many small flowers, the epithet floribunda referring to their abundance; each flower has five greenish to yellowish triangular petals, a five-lobed calyx and five stamens. The fruit is a small, narrowly ellipsoid drupe, green ripening through red to blue-black, seated on the persistent disk.

Berchemia belongs to the tribe Rhamneae within Rhamnaceae and comprises twining or scandent shrubs of Asia and the Americas distinguished by their many-veined leaves and small drupaceous fruits. The fleshy fruits are dispersed by frugivorous birds, while the climbing habit allows the plant to reach light at forest edges. Berchemia floribunda is locally common and economically minor, its tough stems used in basketry and its roots and fruits in folk medicine. Broadly distributed and tolerant of disturbed habitats, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: (Wall.) Brongn. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 12, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Medan & Schirarend treatment of Rhamnaceae