Author

GP Jürgens

Saxifragaceae

Bergenia ciliata

by GP Jürgens

(Haw.) Sternb.

Sikkim2011 28
Sikkim Lachen 2800m, June
Nepal 97 303 G604
Nepal Honggaon 2360m May
Nepal 2001 463 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Gunda 1700m, May

Description

Bergenia ciliata (Haw.) Sternb. is a robust rosette-forming perennial widely distributed through the Himalaya from Pakistan and Afghanistan eastward across India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan into south-west China. It is a characteristic plant of shaded, moist rock crevices, cliff ledges, stream banks and boulder-strewn slopes in the temperate forest belt, generally between about 1500 and 3000 m. The photographed gatherings span this range, from Gunda in the Gorkha region of Nepal at 1700 m and Honggaon at 2360 m up to Lachen in northern Sikkim at 2800 m, flowering in May and June. It favours cool, humid, semi-shaded microsites with seepage and good drainage, often forming extensive colonies on damp rock.

The plant arises from a stout, fleshy, creeping rhizome bearing the persistent remains of old leaf bases. The leaves are large, obovate to broadly elliptic, rounded and shortly toothed at the margin, and notably ciliate-hairy on both surfaces and margin (the basis of the epithet ciliata), distinguishing it from the glabrous-leaved B. purpurascens. The leafless scape carries a branched cymose panicle of showy flowers; the five petals are white to pale pink, broadly obovate, set off by a reddish calyx and conspicuous stamens, opening often before the new foliage is fully expanded. The fruit is a two-lobed capsule containing numerous small seeds.

Within Saxifragaceae the genus Bergenia is a small Asian group, and B. ciliata is one of its most widespread members, intergrading with relatives where ranges overlap. The thick rhizome ("pashanbhed") is important in Ayurvedic and folk medicine, valued for treating urinary calculi, which has led to heavy wild harvesting. Though not globally threatened, localised over-collection and habitat disturbance make sustainable management of this medicinally prized saxifrage a conservation concern.

Author: (Haw.) Sternb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, A Monograph of the Genus Bergenia (Yeo)

Saxifragaceae

Bergenia purpurascens

by GP Jürgens

(Hook.f. & Thomson) Engl.

Sikkim2011 288
Sikkim Yumthang 3600m, June
BhutanPG2011 606 scaled
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Warrtlang-La, 4500m June
Sikkim 2006 394 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 3700m, May

Description

Bergenia purpurascens is a robust perennial of the high Himalaya and adjacent mountains, native to China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, and represented in cultivation across Europe and North America, where naturalised or garden-derived records inflate its GBIF tally to nearly a thousand occurrences. In the wild it is a plant of the alpine and upper subalpine belt, growing on rocky slopes, cliff ledges, moist meadows and the margins of rhododendron scrub. Field records illustrate this altitudinal range well: Sikkim at Yumthang around 3600 m in June, the Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail near Warrtlang-La in Bhutan at some 4500 m in June, and Kishong in West Bengal at about 3700 m in May.

The plant arises from a stout, woody, creeping rhizome bearing a basal rosette of large, leathery, obovate to elliptic leaves; these are glabrous, with entire to obscurely toothed margins and prominent reticulate venation, frequently flushing deep red or purple in autumn and cold exposure. The flowering scape is erect, reddish and glandular, terminating in a dense, nodding cyme. The flowers are showy, with five purple-red to magenta petals, a campanulate calyx of fleshy, often purplish sepals, ten stamens, and a bicarpellate ovary. The fruit is a capsule splitting to release numerous small seeds.

Described by Engler on the basis of Hooker and Thomson's material, B. purpurascens is the principal high-elevation representative of the genus in the eastern Himalaya. Its rhizomes are used in local traditional medicine, and the species is a parent of numerous ornamental Bergenia hybrids. It remains common within its broad range and is not considered threatened.

Author: (Hook.f. & Thomson) Engl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pan's monograph of Bergenia

Betulaceae

Betula utilis

by GP Jürgens

D.Don

Nepal 95 182 P303 ergebnis
Nepal North of Rupien La 3200 m October

Description

Betula utilis, the Himalayan birch, is the characteristic tree of the upper subalpine forest belt throughout the Himalaya and into western China, native across China, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Afghanistan; its roughly 6400 GBIF records combine wild Himalayan occurrences with cultivation in Britain, Germany, France and North America. It forms the treeline forests of the range, as recorded north of the Rupien La in Nepal at about 3200 m in October, typically between 3000 and 4000 m. There it forms pure stands or grows with rhododendron, fir and juniper on cool, moist north-facing slopes, marking the limit of arborescent vegetation.

The species is a deciduous tree, often gnarled near the treeline, with the famous smooth, papery, peeling bark ranging from white and pinkish to coppery or dark brown that exfoliates in horizontal sheets. The leaves are alternate, ovate, doubly serrate and acuminate, turning gold in autumn. As a wind-pollinated monoecious birch it bears separate male and female catkins; the pendulous male catkins shed pollen in spring, while the female catkins mature into cylindrical, disintegrating fruiting catkins releasing small, winged nutlets.

Betula utilis is taxonomically variable, divided into several subspecies and varieties differing in bark colour and leaf form, including the white-barked western populations grown horticulturally as var. jacquemontii. Ecologically it is a keystone of Himalayan treeline ecosystems, its bark long used as a writing material and in traditional medicine. As the treeline shifts under climatic warming and forests face grazing pressure, it is an important indicator species in studies of mountain ecosystem change.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 4, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Birches: The Genus Betula (Ashburner & McAllister)

Fabaceae

Biancaea decapetala

by GP Jürgens

(Roth) O.Deg.

Bhutan2012 401
Bhutan Wangdi 2700m, September

Description

Biancaea decapetala (formerly Caesalpinia decapetala), the Mysore thorn, is a vigorous scrambling shrub native to tropical and subtropical Asia but now widely naturalised across the tropics; its 9040 GBIF occurrences span China, India and much of Asia together with Africa, Australia, the Americas and Pacific islands, reflecting an extensive introduced range. In its native Himalayan setting it grows in thickets, forest margins, riverbanks, scrub and waste ground from the lowlands to about 2700 m. The collection figured, from Wangdi in Bhutan at 2700 m in September, represents the upper subtropical edge of its range, where it forms dense thorny tangles on warm, disturbed valley slopes.

It is a robust, scandent shrub or liana with long arching woody branches armed with numerous stout, recurved prickles and a rusty-brown indumentum on young growth. The leaves are large, alternate and bipinnate, with several pairs of pinnae each bearing many small oblong leaflets. The inflorescence is an erect, elongate terminal raceme of showy flowers; the corolla is bright yellow with five slightly unequal petals (the epithet alluding to ten perianth parts), and the ten free stamens have hairy, reddish filaments. The fruit is a flattened, woody, oblong pod, beaked at the apex and indehiscent or tardily splitting, containing several seeds.

The genus on the source page is given as Caesalpinia; molecular and morphological studies have segregated this species into Biancaea (Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae), the combination accepted by POWO. Used regionally for impenetrable hedges and in traditional medicine, the species is an aggressive coloniser and a serious invasive weed in South Africa, Australia and elsewhere, smothering native vegetation; it is consequently a biosecurity and conservation concern well beyond its native Asian range.

Author: (Roth) O.Deg. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Legumes of the World (Caesalpinioideae)

Polygonaceae

Bistorta emodi

by GP Jürgens

(Meisn.) H.Hara

Bhutan2015 385
BH15
BhutanPG2011 569 01 scaled
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-TrailMiluthang, 4350m July

Description

Bistorta emodi (Meisn.) H.Hara is an alpine knotweed of the Himalaya and adjacent China, recorded from about 363 collections in China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with scattered extralimital reports. It grows in moist alpine meadows, dwarf-shrub heath, streamsides, seepages and damp rocky slopes in the alpine and upper subalpine zone, broadly between about 3500 and 4800 m. The plant photographed on the Ludlow-Sherriff trail at Miluthang in Bhutan at 4350 m in July occupies the cool, moisture-retentive high pastures that are characteristic of the species during the monsoon flowering period.

This is a perennial herb arising from a stout, often contorted, woody rhizome. The stems are erect and simple, sheathed at the nodes by tubular, membranous ochreae diagnostic of the family. Basal and lower leaves are long-petioled with ovate to lanceolate blades, often cordate or truncate at the base, the upper leaves smaller and sessile. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal, cylindrical to oblong spike of small flowers, the perianth pink to reddish or white, five-parted, with eight stamens; the lower part of the spike sometimes bears bulbils. The fruit is a small, trigonous, dark, shining achene enclosed in the persistent perianth.

The species belongs to Bistorta, segregated from Polygonum sensu lato (under which it appears as Polygonum emodi) and supported by molecular phylogenetics as a distinct lineage within Polygonaceae. Its rhizomes store carbohydrates that fuel rapid flowering in the short alpine summer, and the nectariferous spikes attract diverse insects. Widespread and often locally abundant in high Himalayan pasture, B. emodi is not of conservation concern, though it forms an important component of grazed alpine grassland.

Author: (Meisn.) H.Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, revision of Bistorta / Polygonaceae

Polygonaceae

Bistorta griffithii

by GP Jürgens

(Hook. f.) Grierson

BhutanPG2011 500
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Mangde-Chu, 3950m July

Description

Bistorta griffithii (Hook. f.) Grierson is an alpine perennial herb of the eastern Himalaya, ranging through Bhutan, Sikkim and northern India into south-western China (Xizang, Yunnan) and northern Myanmar; the GBIF record of around 176 occurrences also includes herbarium-based citations from the United Kingdom and the United States. It is a plant of high alpine meadows, damp turf, rocky slopes and the upper margins of Rhododendron scrub, favouring cool, moisture-retentive soils kept wet by snowmelt and monsoon mist. The illustrated material was gathered along the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Mangde-Chu in central Bhutan at 3950 m in July, typical of the short midsummer flowering window in the upper alpine zone where this species reaches its display.

The plant arises from a short, thick, somewhat woody and contorted rhizome, producing erect, simple, unbranched stems. Basal leaves are long-petiolate with ovate to lanceolate or oblong blades, the margins entire and the lower surface often paler or thinly hairy; cauline leaves are few, smaller and shortly petiolate to sessile, subtended by membranous, tubular ochreae characteristic of the family. The inflorescence is a solitary, dense, terminal cylindrical to oblong spike of small flowers; perianth segments are five, white to pale pink, with eight stamens and a trifid style. As in many bistorts the lower flowers may be replaced by reddish bulbils. The fruit is a small, trigonous, dark brown shining achene enclosed by the persistent perianth.

Formerly placed in the broadly circumscribed genus Polygonum, this species is now treated in Bistorta on the basis of its perennial habit, unbranched flowering stems and dense terminal spikes. It is closely allied to other Himalayan bistorts such as B. macrophylla and B. vivipara, from which it is distinguished by leaf shape and inflorescence characters. Ecologically it contributes to the herbaceous turf grazed by livestock and wild ungulates, and the production of bulbils provides an effective means of vegetative propagation in the short, harsh alpine growing season. It has not been formally assessed for conservation but appears locally frequent within suitable habitat.

Author: (Hook. f.) Grierson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Polygonaceae monograph (Hong & Steward)

Polygonaceae

Bistorta macrophylla

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Soják

Bh09 76 P130 2
Bhutan Jili-La 3600m, June

Description

Bistorta macrophylla is a perennial herb widely distributed across the Himalaya and the Sino-Himalayan highlands, centred on China, Nepal, India and Bhutan and with scattered records reflecting its broad range and frequent cultivation (gbif_countries: CN, NP, IN, US, BT, ZZ, GB, MM, NZ, TH, JP, NO, RU); GBIF lists some 1887 occurrences, making it one of the better-documented Himalayan knotweeds. It thrives in alpine and subalpine meadows, open grassy slopes, damp turf and the margins of forest clearings, often forming conspicuous colonies. The illustrated record is from Jili-La in Bhutan at about 3600 m in June, typical of its early-summer flowering in moist high-mountain grassland.

The plant arises from a thick, contorted, blackish rhizome and produces erect, simple, unbranched flowering stems. The basal and lower leaves are large, long-petiolate, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, with the blade often decurrent on the petiole and a whitish, papery undersurface; the cauline leaves are smaller and increasingly sessile, sheathing the stem with the membranous ocreae characteristic of the family. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal, cylindrical spike of small flowers with a pink to rose-purple perianth of five tepals, sometimes with bulbils replacing lower flowers. The fruit is a small, trigonous, dark achene.

Formerly included in a broad Polygonum or Persicaria, the species is now placed in the segregate genus Bistorta, supported by molecular phylogenetics of Polygonaceae. Its stout, starchy rhizomes are gathered locally as food and in folk medicine, and it is a familiar component of Himalayan alpine pasture. Common and widespread, B. macrophylla is of no conservation concern.

Author: (D.Don) Soják · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Polygonaceae account in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants

Polygonaceae

Bistorta vacciniifolia

by GP Jürgens

Greene

Sikkim2003 117 G157
Sikkim below Dzongri 4100m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 208 P291
Sikkim below Dzongri 4100m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 118 G158
Sikkim below Dzongri 4100m 08.2003

Description

Bistorta vacciniifolia is a Sino-Himalayan alpine perennial distributed along the high mountain arc from Pakistan and northern India through Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan into south-western China. The 525 GBIF records concentrate in this native range, with scattered occurrences in the Netherlands, Great Britain, New Zealand, Belgium, Norway and the United States representing rock-garden cultivation. It grows on open alpine slopes, rocky banks, moraines and the margins of dwarf-shrub heath, typically between about 3000 and 4500 m. The plant photographed below Dzongri in Sikkim at 4100 m in August captures it in flower during the late-monsoon alpine season on such stony, well-drained ground.

It is a low, mat- or cushion-forming herb arising from a stout, woody, often branched rhizome. The numerous slender, ascending stems bear small, leathery, ovate to elliptic leaves resembling those of Vaccinium, glabrous and shining above, paler beneath, with revolute margins, and sheathing membranous ochreae at the nodes. The inflorescence is a short, dense, terminal spike of bright rose-pink to deep red flowers, each with a five-lobed perianth, eight stamens and exserted styles. The fruit is a small, trigonous, dark brown nut enclosed by the persistent perianth.

Formerly placed in a broadly circumscribed Polygonum and still encountered under Persicaria, the species is now treated within Bistorta, the bistort knotweeds. Its cushion habit, woody rhizome and leathery evergreen leaves are adaptations to wind-exposed, frost-prone alpine ridges. Widespread and locally common across its range, it is of no conservation concern, though it remains an attractive component of high Himalayan moraine and heath communities.

Author: Greene · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Urticaceae

Boehmeria hamiltoniana

by GP Jürgens

Wedd.

Bhutan2012 693
Bhutan Galephu 900m, September

Description

Boehmeria hamiltoniana is a subtropical shrub or tall herb of the Himalayan foothills and adjacent Southeast Asia, recorded from India, China, Nepal, Thailand, Bhutan, Myanmar and Indonesia across some 115 GBIF occurrences. The illustrated plant was photographed at Galephu in southern Bhutan at about 900 m in September. It grows in warm, humid lowland and submontane settings, along forest margins, streamsides, ravines and disturbed ground generally below about 1500 m, favouring shaded, moist, fertile soils.

The plant is a perennial herb or soft-wooded shrub with erect, sometimes pubescent stems. The leaves are opposite or alternate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, with a serrate or dentate margin and an acuminate apex, three-nerved from the base and often roughish or hairy. As in the Urticaceae the flowers are small, greenish and unisexual, lacking petals; they are densely aggregated into slender, often interrupted axillary spikes or panicles. The female flowers develop into small dry achenes enclosed in the persistent perianth, each containing a single seed.

Boehmeria belongs to the nettle family but, unlike true nettles, lacks stinging hairs. The genus includes the economically important ramie (Boehmeria nivea), valued for its strong bast fibres, and several Himalayan species are used locally for cordage. Wind plays a role in pollination of the inconspicuous flowers. B. hamiltoniana is widespread and ecologically tolerant of disturbance, and is therefore of least conservation concern, persisting readily along trails and forest edges.

Author: Wedd. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Friis & Wilmot-Dear – Revision of Boehmeria (Urticaceae)

Urticaceae

Boehmeria penduliflora

by GP Jürgens

Wedd. ex D.G.Long

Bhutan2015 116
Bhutan Galephug 600m, October
Bhutan2015 117
Bhutan Galephug 600m, October

Description

Boehmeria penduliflora is a shrubby false-nettle distributed from the Himalaya and southern China through Indochina and Southeast Asia, with GBIF documenting nearly 2000 occurrences including naturalised records on Indian Ocean islands such as Reunion and Mauritius. It favours warm, humid lowland and submontane settings: streambanks, forest margins, roadside thickets and disturbed scrub on moist soils. The photographed plant grows in southern Bhutan at Gelephu around 600 m, in flower or fruit in October; the species is most frequent below about 1500 m in the subtropical foothill zone where it can form sizeable bushes.

The plant is a much-branched, erect to spreading shrub reaching two to three metres, with terete, finely pubescent young stems and, unlike true nettles, no stinging hairs. The leaves are opposite or subopposite, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, long-acuminate, serrate-margined and three-nerved from the base, scabrid above and paler beneath. The minute unisexual flowers are densely clustered in glomerules arranged along slender, pendulous axillary spikes, a feature reflected in the epithet penduliflora. The fruit is a small ellipsoid achene enclosed in the persistent perianth.

Boehmeria belongs to the tribe Boehmerieae of the Urticaceae and includes the economically important ramie; B. penduliflora yields a usable bast fibre and is browsed by livestock, with leaves used as fodder and occasionally in traditional medicine. Its drooping inflorescences and lanceolate leaves readily distinguish it within the genus. Widespread, vigorous and tolerant of disturbance, it is of least concern and has naturalised well beyond its native Asian range as a hedge and fibre plant.

Author: Wedd. ex D.G.Long · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Boehmeria revision (Wilmot-Dear & Friis)