Author

GP Jürgens

Papaveraceae

Meconopsis napaulensis

by GP Jürgens

DC.

BhutanPG2011 271
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4100m June

Description

Meconopsis napaulensis DC. is a monocarpic Himalayan poppy distributed through Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, north-east India and adjacent south-west China, growing in open subalpine and alpine habitats such as moist meadows, scrub margins, rocky slopes and forest clearings. It favours cool, humid, well-drained sites between roughly 3000 and 4200 m. The photographed plant from Jule-Tso in Bhutan at 4100 m, flowering in June, sits near the upper end of this range, where late snowmelt and summer moisture sustain the brief but spectacular flowering of these high-mountain poppies on open, sunlit slopes.

The plant is a giant, monocarpic herb that builds up over several years as a large basal rosette of pinnately lobed to deeply divided, bristly leaves before producing a single tall, leafy, branched flowering stem in its final season. The whole plant is clothed in stiff, often rust-coloured bristles. The flowers are large, nodding and saucer-shaped, with four (sometimes more) silky petals ranging from blue and purple to red, pink or yellow in different populations, surrounding a central boss of numerous stamens and a prominent ovary. The fruit is an elongate, bristly capsule dehiscing by apical valves to shed abundant minute seeds, after which the entire plant dies.

Meconopsis napaulensis has long been a taxonomically confused name, applied to a range of red- and purple-flowered big rosette poppies; modern revisions have segregated several distinct species (such as M. paniculata and M. wilsonii) formerly lumped under it. Pollinated chiefly by bumblebees, these poppies are emblematic of the Himalayan alpine flora. While not formally assessed as threatened, their monocarpic life cycle, narrow alpine niche and horticultural appeal make wild populations vulnerable to over-collection and climate-driven habitat change.

Author: DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, The Genus Meconopsis (Grey-Wilson), Flora of China (Papaveraceae)

Papaveraceae

Meconopsis regia

by GP Jürgens

G.Taylor

Nepal 95 136.P229 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupina La October
Nepal 2001 356 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal 2001 381 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal (Gorkha) Rupina-La 3350m, May

Description

Meconopsis regia is a stately monocarpic poppy endemic to central Nepal, the great majority of its roughly 100 documented records lying within that country. It is a plant of open rocky slopes, screes, cliff ledges and alpine grassland of the subalpine to alpine zones, typically between about 3000 and 4200 m. The illustrated material derives from the Rupina-La area in the Gorkha region of Nepal: a flowering plant at 3350 m in May and a withered specimen recorded south of the pass in October, together documenting the full annual cycle from spring growth to autumn senescence.

The species is celebrated for its magnificent overwintering rosette of large oblanceolate leaves clothed in dense golden to rusty-red silky hairs, which protect the resting bud through the alpine winter. After several years of rosette growth it bolts to produce a tall, stout, leafy flowering stem bearing numerous large flowers. The blooms are saucer-shaped with four broad, satiny petals of pale to golden yellow, surrounding a boss of many stamens and a stout ovary topped by a short style and capitate stigma. After flowering the plant dies, the ovary maturing into an elongate ribbed capsule that dehisces by apical pores to scatter the seeds.

Meconopsis is the iconic genus of Himalayan and Sino-Tibetan poppies, distinguished from Papaver largely by its distinctive style and stigma. As a narrow-range Nepalese endemic with a monocarpic, hapaxanthic life-history, M. regia is intrinsically vulnerable to over-collection and habitat disturbance and is of conservation interest despite lacking a formal IUCN assessment; it is also prized by alpine horticulturists.

Author: G.Taylor · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flowers of the Himalaya, The Genus Meconopsis (Grey-Wilson monograph), Flora of Nepal

Papaveraceae

Meconopsis sherriffii

by GP Jürgens

G. Taylor

BhutanPG2011 482 scaled
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Warrtlang-La, 4400m June

Description

Meconopsis sherriffii is a rare and narrowly endemic Himalayan poppy known only from a small area of the eastern Himalaya straddling south-eastern Xizang (China) and adjacent northern Bhutan; with merely around 17 georeferenced occurrences (CN, BT) it ranks among the most localised members of its celebrated genus. It is a plant of high alpine turf, screes and rocky, well-drained slopes near the upper limit of vegetation, typically between about 4000 and 4800 m. The plant photographed at Warrtlang-La on the historic Ludlow-Sherriff Trail in Bhutan at 4400 m in June, flowering in the short alpine summer, occupies exactly this exposed, high-elevation habitat for which the species is named after its co-discoverer George Sherriff.

It is a tap-rooted perennial forming a low rosette of leaves clothed, like the scapes, in soft golden to rufous hairs. The leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, entire to shallowly lobed, and densely pilose. The flowers, borne singly or few on hairy scapes, are large and saucer-shaped, with four (occasionally more) broad, satiny petals of a distinctive soft pink to rose colour, unusual in a genus dominated by blue and yellow species; the boss of numerous golden stamens surrounds a superior ovary topped by a short style and lobed stigma. The fruit is an ellipsoid, hairy, several-valved capsule opening by apical pores to release many minute seeds.

Meconopsis sherriffii belongs to the section of monocarpic-to-perennial hairy Himalayan poppies and is prized in cultivation for its rare pink colouring. Its extremely restricted range, low population numbers and dependence on fragile high-alpine habitat make it of clear conservation concern, vulnerable to grazing, collection and climatic change.

Author: G. Taylor · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Grey-Wilson's monograph The Genus Meconopsis, Ludlow & Sherriff's Bhutan collections

Papaveraceae

Meconopsis wallichii var. fusco-purpurea

by GP Jürgens

Sikkim2003 156 G209
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 158 P211
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August

Description

Meconopsis wallichii var. fusco-purpurea is a dark-flowered variant of the tall Himalayan blue poppy complex of the eastern Himalaya, ranging through Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. Although GBIF holds no occurrence records under this infraspecific name (the taxon being treated under the broader M. wallichii and the genus Meconopsis sensu lato), the species occupies open subalpine and lower alpine slopes, forest clearings and shrubberies, typically between 3000 and 4000 m. The photographs from Dzongri in Sikkim at about 3900 m in August document this purple-flowered form in its characteristic high-montane meadow habitat during the monsoon flowering season.

The plant is a tall, monocarpic herb that forms a basal rosette of deeply pinnatifid, bristly-hairy leaves over several years before producing a single robust, branched flowering stem up to a metre or more in height. The stems and foliage bear rusty to golden setose hairs. The large, nodding, saucer-shaped flowers are arranged in a leafy panicle; in this variety the petals are a deep dusky purple to wine-red rather than the sky-blue typical of the species, surrounding a boss of golden stamens. The ovary is bristly and develops into an elongate, several-valved capsule dehiscing at the apex to release numerous small seeds.

Taxonomically this purple form has been recognised at varietal rank within the variable M. wallichii, itself part of the difficult Sino-Himalayan genus Meconopsis where flower colour and indumentum vary clinally; many such names are now subsumed or transferred following modern revisions. The monocarpic life history, with a long vegetative phase and a single mass-flowering event, is characteristic of the group. As a striking ornamental, it is of horticultural interest, while wild populations depend on undisturbed subalpine slopes.

Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grey-Wilson's monograph The Genus Meconopsis

Gentianaceae

Megacodon stylophorus

by GP Jürgens

(C.B.Clarke) Harry Sm.

BhutanPG2011 807 01 01
Bhutan Chele-La, 3900m July

Description

Megacodon stylophorus is a stately giant gentian of the eastern Himalaya and southwestern China. GBIF records it from China, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, with roughly 450 occurrences, the genus being a small Sino-Himalayan endemic. It grows in moist subalpine meadows, forest clearings, scrub margins and along streamsides between about 3000 and 4300 m. The plant shown was photographed on the Chele-La pass in western Bhutan at 3900 m in July, when its tall flowering stems rise above the surrounding alpine herbage at the height of the monsoon growing season.

It is one of the largest herbaceous gentians, an erect perennial reaching 1-1.5 m from a stout rhizome. The stem bears opposite, sessile, broadly ovate leaves with conspicuous arcuate parallel venation. The large, pendulous, broadly campanulate flowers are borne in the upper leaf axils; the corolla is pale greenish-yellow, intricately net-veined with darker reticulation, and 4-5 cm long. Distinctively the style is long and persistent (the epithet stylophorus, style-bearing), exserted from the corolla, and the fruit is a large septicidal capsule releasing numerous winged seeds adapted to wind dispersal.

Megacodon is a segregate from the broadly defined Gentiana, distinguished by its great stature, reticulate corolla and elongate style, and molecular studies place it among the basal lineages of tribe Gentianeae. Its showy net-veined flowers are pollinated chiefly by bumblebees foraging at high elevation. Though striking and of horticultural interest, it is not regarded as globally threatened, but its dependence on undisturbed, moist subalpine habitats makes it sensitive to overgrazing and shifting monsoon regimes.

Author: (C.B.Clarke) Harry Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Gentianaceae: systematics and natural history

Asteraceae

Melanoseris macrorhiza

by GP Jürgens

(Royle) N.Kilian

Bhutan2012 260
Bhutan Chele-La 3500m, September
Nepal 99 928 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2700m, July

Description

Melanoseris macrorhiza (Royle) N.Kilian is a Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan blue-flowered lettuce relative recorded from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, China and Myanmar, with around 468 georeferenced occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open alpine and subalpine slopes, in moist meadows, among rocks and along forest margins, typically between about 2700 and 4000 m. The collections from Chele-La at 3500 m in September and from Roha in West Nepal at 2700 m in July illustrate its broad Himalayan altitudinal range and its late-summer to autumn flowering.

It is a perennial herb arising, as the epithet macrorhiza indicates, from a stout, thickened taproot or rootstock, with milky latex characteristic of the tribe Cichorieae. The stems are erect and leafy below, becoming branched in the inflorescence. The leaves are lyrate-pinnatifid to runcinate, the basal ones petiolate and the cauline ones often clasping with auriculate bases. The capitula are wholly ligulate, with blue to violet-blue strap-shaped florets and a cylindric involucre of imbricate phyllaries. The fruit is a flattened, ribbed cypsela narrowed toward the apex and bearing a pappus of white, soft bristles.

The species has a complex nomenclatural history, having been placed at various times in Lactuca, Cicerbita and Cephalorrhynchus before transfer to Melanoseris, a predominantly Asian genus segregated within the lettuce alliance on the basis of cypsela and pappus characters supported by molecular data. It is a widespread montane element of no particular conservation concern.

Author: (Royle) N.Kilian · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Kilian revision of Cichorieae (Melanoseris)

Melastomataceae

Melastoma malabathricum

by GP Jürgens

L.

Nepal 1994 11 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Tumlingtar 400m April
Nepal 1994 304 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Tumlingtar 400m April
Nepal 2001 22 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Sabha-Khola 1400m, April

Description

Melastoma malabathricum L. is an extremely widespread shrub of the Melastomataceae, ranging from the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayan foothills through Southeast Asia and Malesia to southern China, Taiwan, Japan, New Guinea and Australia, with naturalised populations in the Pacific and elsewhere; GBIF records are exceptionally numerous (c. 19,800 occurrences). It is a pioneer of open, disturbed and secondary habitats, roadsides, clearings, grasslands and forest margins, mostly in the tropical lowland to lower montane zone. The photographed plants from eastern Nepal at Tumlingtar (c. 400 m) and Sabha-Khola (c. 1,400 m), both flowering in April, lie at the northwestern margin of its vast range.

The plant is an erect, much-branched shrub 0.5–3 m tall, with stems and leaves clothed in appressed, stiff, scaly-bristly hairs. The leaves are opposite, ovate-lanceolate, and bear the three to five prominent, arcuate, longitudinal veins characteristic of the family. The flowers are large and showy, 4–6 cm across, with five rose-purple to mauve obovate petals. The androecium is dimorphic, with longer purple, geniculate stamens bearing curved appendaged connectives and shorter yellow stamens. The fruit is a fleshy, berry-like capsule that ruptures irregularly to expose abundant small seeds embedded in dark purple pulp, attractive to birds.

Melastoma malabathricum is a taxonomically variable aggregate that has accumulated numerous synonyms, and infraspecific forms are recognised across its range. It is an early-successional coloniser tolerant of acidic, aluminium-rich soils and is widely used in traditional medicine. Of least concern, it can behave as an invasive weed outside its native range.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Renner et al.: Melastomataceae studies

Saxifragaceae

Micranthes melanocentra

by GP Jürgens

Losinsk.

BhutanPG2011 567 1
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4300m June

Description

Micranthes melanocentra (long known as Saxifraga melanocentra) ranges through the high mountains of China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Pakistan, with about 784 records tracing the Himalaya and the Hengduan and Tibetan ranges. It is a true alpine, the image documenting it at Jule-Tso in Bhutan at about 4300 m in June, at the onset of the brief alpine summer. It occupies open alpine meadow, stony slopes, moraine, streamsides and damp turf above the treeline on moist, well-drained gravelly and rocky substrates, where snowmelt provides early-season moisture and the growing season is compressed into a few weeks.

It is a small rosette-forming perennial herb arising from a short rootstock. The leaves are basal, obovate to spathulate, with crenate to dentate margins, narrowing to a broad petiole and often somewhat fleshy. From the rosette rises a leafless, glandular-hairy scape bearing a corymbose to subcapitate cyme of several flowers. The flowers have five white (sometimes pink-tinged) petals, and the species takes its epithet from the dark, almost blackish, contrasting centre formed by the deep-coloured ovary and the conspicuous reddish to purple-black anthers. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule releasing numerous small seeds.

The species was described by Losinskaja and is now placed in the segregate genus Micranthes, separated from Saxifraga sensu stricto on molecular and morphological grounds, comprising the rosette-leaved, scapose saxifrages. Its dark-centred white flowers are visually distinctive among Himalayan alpines and provide a contrasting nectar guide for insect pollinators. Adapted to cold, high-radiation alpine conditions, it is widespread and locally common across its montane range and is not considered threatened.

Author: Losinsk. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Saxifragaceae monograph and Micranthes phylogenetic studies

Saxifragaceae

Micranthes pallida

by GP Jürgens

Losinsk.

BhutanPG2011 366
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3550m June

Description

Micranthes pallida (formerly placed in Saxifraga, as reflected in the source link) is a Himalayan rosette herb distributed across the high mountains from Pakistan and northern India through Nepal and Bhutan into south-western China and northern Myanmar; with over 650 georeferenced occurrences (CN, NP, IN, BT, PK, MM) it is one of the more frequent members of its group. It inhabits damp alpine meadows, mossy rock ledges, stream margins and shaded slopes, typically between about 3000 and 4500 m. The plant recorded at Tsochenchen in Bhutan at 3550 m in June, flowering in the brief alpine summer, is characteristic of its cool, moist montane-to-alpine habitat.

It is a perennial herb forming a basal rosette of leaves on a short rhizome. The leaves are spathulate to obovate or broadly ovate, with a cuneate base tapering into a broad petiole, the margins coarsely toothed or crenate, and the blade thin-textured and often somewhat pale or glaucous. From the rosette rises a slender, glandular-pubescent flowering stem bearing a lax, often paniculate or corymbose cyme of small flowers. Each flower has five spreading whitish to pale greenish petals, ten stamens and a half-inferior, bicarpellate ovary that ripens into a many-seeded, two-beaked capsule.

Micranthes is now widely recognised as a genus distinct from Saxifraga sensu stricto, corresponding to the former Saxifraga sect. Micranthes, supported by molecular and morphological evidence; M. pallida belongs to this assemblage of broad-leaved, rosette-forming species. Adapted to the harsh alpine regime through its perennating rhizome and ground-hugging habit, it is widespread and not regarded as threatened across its extensive range.

Author: Losinsk. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Gornall's revision of Saxifragaceae

Ericaceae

Monotropa hypopitys

by GP Jürgens

L.

Bh09 307 G504
Bhutan Yetong-La, 3050m June
Nepal 99 882 ergebnis
West-Nepal Suli-Khola 3000m, July

Description

Monotropa hypopitys, the yellow bird's-nest, is a circumboreal mycoheterotroph of remarkably broad distribution, with GBIF amassing over 56,000 occurrences spanning North America, Europe and temperate Asia, including the United States, France, Canada, Russia, Germany, Scandinavia and Japan. It grows in the deep shade and leaf litter of coniferous and broadleaved forests, lacking chlorophyll and obtaining its carbon indirectly from surrounding trees via shared ectomycorrhizal fungi. The Himalayan records from Yetong-La in Bhutan at about 3050 m in June and Suli-Khola in western Nepal near 3000 m in July document its occurrence in shaded temperate fir, oak and rhododendron forest along the southern margin of its vast range. Here gbif_status is SYNONYM, with Monotropa hypopitys taken as the accepted name (often referred to Hypopitys monotropa).

The entire plant is a waxy, fleshy herb of pale yellow, ivory or pinkish-brown colour, wholly devoid of green pigment. The simple, unbranched stem is clothed in scale-like, alternate, bract-form leaves in place of true foliage. At anthesis the stem nods at the apex, bearing a short, secund, few-flowered raceme of pendent, urn-shaped to campanulate flowers; the lateral flowers are usually 4-merous and the terminal 5-merous, with free or loosely cohering petals and eight to ten stamens. After pollination the inflorescence becomes erect, the ovary maturing into an ovoid capsule releasing enormous numbers of minute, dust-like seeds.

Long placed in its own family Monotropaceae, M. hypopitys is now firmly embedded within Ericaceae subfamily Monotropoideae, a lineage of obligate mycoheterotrophs whose nutrition depends entirely on a tripartite plant-fungus-tree relationship. Its dust seeds require fungal infection to germinate, tying its distribution closely to suitable mycorrhizal hosts. Despite its enormous global range it is inconspicuous and of least concern overall, though sensitive to forest clearance that severs its underground fungal connections.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora Europaea, Flora of Bhutan, Wallace monograph of Monotropoideae