Author

G & P Jürgens

Papaveraceae

Corydalis latiflora 

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 99 795 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4500m, July
Nepal 99 794 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4500m, July

Description

Corydalis latiflora is a high-alpine perennial herb of the central and western Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, northern India and Bhutan with some extension into south-western China, a comparatively narrow distribution reflected in around 78 occurrence records. It grows on open screes, moraines, rocky alpine slopes and gravelly flats, typically between about 4000 and 4800 m, well above the treeline. The specimen photographed at Baga-La-Phedi in west Nepal at 4500 m in July illustrates its flowering during the short summer growing season of the high alpine zone.

The plant is a low, often glaucous perennial arising from a slender rootstock or small tuber, with a tuft of finely dissected, several-times divided leaves bearing narrow ultimate segments. The flowering stems carry few-flowered racemes of zygomorphic flowers subtended by leafy or divided bracts; each flower has two small outer petals and two inner petals, the upper outer petal prolonged backwards into a conspicuous spur, the corolla broad and blue to purplish-blue as the epithet latiflora ("broad-flowered") suggests. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule (siliqua-like) opening to scatter small, shining seeds often bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis (Papaveraceae, subfamily Fumarioideae) is an exceptionally large and taxonomically intricate genus, with a great radiation of blue-flowered alpine species across the Himalaya and Hengduan mountains. C. latiflora belongs to this assemblage of high-elevation specialists. The spurred flowers are pollinated by bumblebees and other long-tongued insects, and the elaiosome-bearing seeds are frequently ant-dispersed (myrmecochory). As a narrow-range alpine endemic, it is of biogeographic interest and potentially sensitive to climatic warming of its high-mountain habitat.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis megacalyx

by G & P Jürgens

Ludlow & Stearn

Nepal 99 518 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3800m, June
Nepal 99 520 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3800m, June
Nepal 99 788 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4400m, July

Description

Corydalis megacalyx Ludlow & Stearn is a narrowly distributed Himalayan endemic known with certainty only from Nepal, where GBIF records just 37 occurrences. It is a plant of the subalpine and alpine zones, growing on damp rocky slopes, screes, moraine debris and stream banks where moisture from snowmelt is reliable. The photographed populations in West Nepal, at Churta-Khola around 3800 m in June and at Baga-La-Phedi near 4400 m in July, indicate a habitat band roughly between 3800 and 4400 m and a flowering period coinciding with the early monsoon thaw of the western Nepalese high country.

The species is a glabrous, somewhat fleshy perennial herb arising from a slender rootstock. Stems are ascending to erect, bearing alternate, glaucous leaves that are divided into rather broad, lobed segments. The inflorescence is a few- to several-flowered terminal raceme; the flowers are strongly zygomorphic, with a conspicuously enlarged calyx that gives the species its epithet megacalyx. Each blue to purplish-blue flower bears a single posterior spur and the crested outer petals typical of the genus. The fruit is an elongate dehiscent capsule containing small black seeds furnished with elaiosomes.

Within Corydalis, this species belongs to the blue-flowered Himalayan alpine assemblage and is distinguished by its prominent persistent calyx, an unusual feature in a genus where sepals are usually small and caducous. Like its relatives, it is pollinated by long-tongued insects able to access the spur and is dispersed by ants. Its restricted known range and low occurrence count make it a species of biogeographic interest and potential conservation concern, though its remote high-altitude habitat affords some protection from direct human pressures.

Author: Ludlow & Stearn · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis, Stearn studies of Himalayan Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis meifolia 

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 99 628 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 4950m, July

Description

Corydalis meifolia Wall. is a high-alpine herb distributed along the Himalaya and adjacent ranges, with GBIF documenting some 251 occurrences across India, Nepal, China, Bhutan and Pakistan, with outliers reaching Japan. It is a plant of the upper subalpine and alpine zones, typically growing between roughly 3500 and 5200 m on open, gravelly slopes, moraine flushes, screes and damp meadow margins where snowmelt persists. The photographed population at the Kagmara-La in West Nepal, at about 4950 m in July, exemplifies its preference for cold, well-drained substrates that thaw only briefly during the short montane summer.

The species is a glabrous, somewhat glaucous perennial arising from a slender taproot. Stems are erect to ascending, often several from the base, and the foliage is finely divided: the leaves are two- to three-pinnate with narrow, almost filiform ultimate segments, recalling the foliage of Meum (hence the epithet meifolia). The inflorescence is a dense terminal raceme of zygomorphic flowers; each flower is yellow, bearing the characteristic single posterior spur of the genus, with the outer petals expanded and crested. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule containing small black seeds, typically each bearing an oil-rich elaiosome.

Within the large and taxonomically complex genus Corydalis, C. meifolia belongs to a Himalayan assemblage of yellow-flowered, finely dissected alpine species and is morphologically variable across its range, with several segregate taxa described. Like many high-elevation Papaveraceae it relies on insect pollination during the brief flowering window and on seed dispersal by ants attracted to the elaiosomes. The species remains locally frequent across its broad montane distribution and is not considered threatened, though populations are confined to the narrow, climatically sensitive alpine belt.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis pseudojuncea

by G & P Jürgens

Ludlow & Stearn

Nepal 99 135 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3800m, June

Description

Corydalis pseudojuncea is a poorly collected high-Himalayan herb known from a narrow range across Nepal, northern India and adjacent south-western China (Tibet), with only 14 GBIF records reflecting both its restricted distribution and the remoteness of its habitat. It occupies open alpine and subalpine ground – stony slopes, moraine flats and seasonally moist gravels – in the inner ranges. The cited gathering from south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at 3800 m in June places it in the early-summer flowering flush of the western Nepalese alpine zone, where snowmelt briefly supports such ephemeral fumitories.

It is a slender, glabrous and somewhat glaucous perennial herb arising from a small tuber or fleshy rootstock, the rush-like ("juncea") aspect alluded to in its epithet given by the few, narrow, much-reduced leaves and the wiry erect stems. The leaves are finely dissected into linear segments. The flowers are borne in a lax terminal raceme, zygomorphic and spurred in the manner of the genus, the outer two petals one of which bears a long backward-pointing nectar spur, the inner pair connate over the stigma; the corolla is pale yellow to bluish. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule releasing few shining seeds.

Corydalis is an exceptionally large genus with a Sino-Himalayan diversity centre, and C. pseudojuncea, described by Ludlow and Stearn, belongs among the narrow-leaved alpine species. Its spurred flowers indicate long-tongued bee pollination. Given its rarity in collections and limited known range it warrants monitoring, though insufficient data exist for a formal threat assessment.

Author: Ludlow & Stearn · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis sikkimensis

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain) Fedde

Bh2008 379 G589
Bhutan Gogona 3200m, May

Description

Corydalis sikkimensis is an Eastern Himalayan endemic distributed across the high mountains of Sikkim and adjacent India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan and southern Xizang (China), with GBIF documenting 18 georeferenced collections from these four countries (IN, NP, BT, CN). It occupies the subalpine to lower alpine belt, typically between 3000 and 4000 m, growing in moist shaded conifer and Rhododendron forest margins, on humus-rich banks, beside snow-melt rivulets and among damp rocks. The photographed plant from Gogona in central Bhutan at about 3200 m in May illustrates its phenology, flowering with the early summer monsoon when soils are saturated and light is filtered through the forest canopy.

It is a slender, glabrous, glaucous perennial herb arising from a small fibrous-rooted or shortly tuberous rootstock. The erect to ascending stems bear thin, several-times ternately or pinnately divided leaves, the ultimate segments ovate to obovate and often shallowly lobed, the lower leaves long-petiolate. Flowers are borne in lax terminal racemes subtended by small entire or toothed bracts; each zygomorphic flower comprises four petals, the upper petal produced into a slender, somewhat curved or decurved spur, the inner petals connate at the apex and crested. The corolla is typically blue to purplish-blue. The fruit is a narrow dehiscent capsule containing small black shining seeds.

A member of the large and taxonomically intricate genus Corydalis (Papaveraceae, subfamily Fumarioideae), the species belongs to the predominantly Sino-Himalayan radiation centred on the eastern Himalaya and Hengduan Shan. Like many congeners it is pollinated by long-tongued bumblebees attracted to the spurred corolla, and its alkaloid-rich tissues are characteristic of the family. Though restricted in range, it occurs in remote, little-disturbed high-elevation habitats and is not presently regarded as threatened, but its narrow endemism makes it sensitive to climate-driven shifts in the alpine zone.

Author: (Prain) Fedde · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Monograph of the genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis vaginans

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Garw 2005 427 ergebnis
India Garhwal Didina 2470m, September

Description

Corydalis vaginans is a Sino-Himalayan herb of the western and central Himalaya, with georeferenced collections concentrated in India, Pakistan and Nepal; GBIF records some 164 occurrences. It is a plant of cool, humid temperate to subalpine zones, favouring shaded forest margins, moist rocky banks, stream sides and clearings within Quercus and Abies forest. The image, taken near Didina in Garhwal (India) at about 2470 m in September, illustrates its typical late-season flowering in this moist mid-montane belt, where it grows among ferns and tall herbs on humus-rich, well-drained slopes.

The plant is a slender, glaucous, glabrous annual or short-lived perennial arising from a slender taproot. Stems are erect to ascending, somewhat fleshy and ribbed, branched above. The leaves are alternate, the lower long-petiolate and conspicuously sheathing at the base (the epithet vaginans referring to these dilated sheaths), the blades two- to three-pinnately divided into ovate to cuneate, lobed segments. Flowers are borne in lax terminal and axillary racemes, zygomorphic and yellow, with two outer petals one of which is spurred and the inner petals connate and crested. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent siliquiform capsule containing several shining black seeds with an elaiosome.

Within the large, taxonomically intricate genus Corydalis, this species belongs to the predominantly Asian assemblage of mesophytic, sheathing-leaved annuals, distinct from the tuberous spring-flowering groups. Its ant-dispersed seeds (myrmecochory) and shade-tolerant habit allow colonisation of disturbed forest soils. Though not assessed as threatened, populations are localised and dependent on intact temperate forest cover, sensitive to deforestation and grazing in the western Himalaya.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton), Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Rosaceae

Cotoneaster adpressus

by G & P Jürgens

Bois

Nepal 99 148 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3700m, June (also Onosma bracteata)

Description

Cotoneaster adpressus is a Sino-Himalayan dwarf shrub ranging from the western Himalaya through Nepal into western and central China. GBIF holds some 1972 occurrences, combining native records in China, Nepal and India with many naturalised or cultivated ones across Europe and North America, reflecting its horticultural use. It grows on open rocky slopes, screes and meadow margins, typically between about 1900 and 3700 m. The photographed plant grows in West Nepal south of Rara Lake at roughly 3700 m in June, on dry, sun-exposed terrain shared with Onosma bracteata.

The species is a low, deciduous, often prostrate shrub forming dense mats, with rigid spreading branches that root on contact. Young branchlets are strigose-pubescent, becoming glabrous and dark brown. The leaves are small, alternate, broadly elliptic to suborbicular, 5-15 mm long, often undulate-margined and mucronate or emarginate, dull green above and pubescent on the veins beneath. Flowers are solitary or paired, nearly sessile, with erect pinkish to white petals and a campanulate hypanthium. The fruit is a small globose red pome, usually with two pyrenes.

Cotoneaster is a taxonomically intricate genus in which apomixis and polyploidy generate numerous microspecies, and several Himalayan and Chinese varieties have been described. The dense ground-hugging habit, drought tolerance and showy autumn fruit have made this species a popular rock-garden and groundcover plant that escapes cultivation in temperate regions. Within its native range it is widespread, not threatened, and dispersed by frugivorous birds.

Author: Bois · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Fryer & Hylmo: Cotoneasters – A Comprehensive Guide

Rosaceae

Cotoneaster frigidus

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Lindl.

Nepal 99 567 ergebnis
West-Nepal Hurikot 2700m, June

Description

Cotoneaster frigidus is a large shrub or small tree native to the Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, with its many further records from Britain, New Zealand, the United States and continental Europe reflecting its long history in cultivation and naturalisation. In the wild it occupies open slopes, forest margins, scrub and ravines in the temperate Himalayan zone, typically between about 1800 and 3000 m. The plant photographed at Hurikot in West Nepal at 2700 m in June is a representative wild occurrence in the moist temperate hill forest belt, flowering as the summer monsoon approaches.

It is a vigorous, semi-deciduous shrub or small tree with arching, spreading branches and grey-brown bark. The leaves are alternate, elliptic to oblong, dark green and glabrous above and grey-tomentose beneath when young, with an entire margin and a short petiole. The small, white, five-petalled flowers are borne in dense, many-flowered, flat-topped corymbs and have numerous stamens and a half-inferior ovary. The fruit is a small, bright red, globose pome borne in heavy, conspicuous clusters that persist into winter, each containing usually two pyrenes.

Cotoneaster is a taxonomically intricate genus of the Rosaceae, subfamily Amygdaloideae (Maloideae), in which apomixis and hybridisation have generated many microspecies. Cotoneaster frigidus is among the largest-growing and most ornamental species and is the parent of widely grown garden hybrids such as the 'Cornubia' group; in parts of Britain and elsewhere it has escaped to become naturalised. Its abundant red pomes are eaten and dispersed by birds, while the nectar-rich flowers attract bees, making it ecologically valuable in both its native and introduced ranges.

Author: Wall. ex Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Fryer & Hylmö's Cotoneasters monograph

Gentianaceae

Crawfurdia speciosa

by G & P Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Bhutan2015 592
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1900m, October
Bhutan2015 594
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1900m, October
Bhutan2012 938 scaled
Bhutan Tumching-La 3200m, October
Bhutan2012 936
Bhutan Tumching-La 3200m, October

Description

Crawfurdia speciosa C.B.Clarke is a climbing perennial gentian of the eastern and central Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, north-east India, Bhutan, south-west China and into northern Vietnam, with scattered records from Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is a plant of moist, shaded temperate forest, scrambling through shrubs and over the herbaceous understorey along forest margins, stream banks and clearings. The two photographed Bhutanese populations bracket its altitudinal span, from the warm Mo-Chu valley at 1900 m to the cool Tumching-La pass at 3200 m, both flowering in October. This autumn flowering, well after the monsoon, is characteristic of the twining Asian gentians and exploits the late-season window before the onset of winter.

Unlike the familiar erect, rosette-forming gentians, Crawfurdia is a slender, herbaceous, twining climber with weak quadrangular stems and opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaves tapering to an acuminate tip and bearing prominent palmate-curved venation. The flowers, solitary or few in the upper leaf axils, are showy and pendent; the campanulate to tubular corolla is blue to blue-purple, with short spreading lobes and conspicuous plicate folds (plicae) between them, a hallmark of the gentian family. The fruit is a stalked, flattened capsule that protrudes from the persistent corolla on an elongating gynophore, releasing numerous small, winged, wind-dispersed seeds.

The genus Crawfurdia is closely allied to Gentiana and Tripterospermum, and has at times been merged with them; molecular studies confirm the twining Sino-Himalayan gentians as a distinct lineage. The pendent blue corolla suggests pollination by late-season bees. Though not currently regarded as threatened, its dependence on intact mid- to high-elevation forest makes it sensitive to deforestation across its eastern Himalayan range.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Gentianaceae), Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Gentianaceae: Systematics and Natural History (Struwe & Albert)

Asteraceae

Cremanthodium arnicoides 

by G & P Jürgens

R.D.Good

Garw 2005 46 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Valley of flowers 3300m, September

Description

Cremanthodium arnicoides is a Sino-Himalayan alpine composite recorded from Nepal, India and China, with additional herbarium-based occurrences abroad; GBIF lists about 268 records concentrated along the high ranges. It inhabits alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, scree margins and streamsides, generally between roughly 3000 and 4500 m. The plant photographed in the Valley of Flowers, Garhwal (India), at about 3300 m in September captures its characteristic montane meadow habitat at the close of the monsoon flowering season, when its nodding golden capitula are conspicuous among late summer herbage.

The species is a tufted perennial herb arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The basal leaves are long-petiolate with reniform to cordate, palmately veined blades and dentate margins, forming a rosette, while the stem leaves are smaller and progressively sessile. The erect, sparsely arachnoid-hairy scape bears solitary, nodding radiate capitula; the involucral bracts are blackish-green and somewhat hairy, the ligulate ray florets are yellow and elongate, and the central disc florets are tubular. The cylindrical achenes are glabrous and crowned by a copious white pappus of soft barbellate bristles.

Cremanthodium is a genus of about seventy alpine species characteristic of the Himalaya and Hengduan Mountains, distinguished from related Ligularia and Senecio by its typically solitary, nodding capitula adapted to cold, high-altitude conditions, the pendent heads protecting the florets from rain and intense radiation. Many species are narrow endemics; C. arnicoides has a moderately wide Himalayan range and is not regarded as threatened, though as a high-elevation specialist it is potentially sensitive to climate warming and habitat shifts in the alpine zone.

Author: R.D.Good · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Good's revision of Cremanthodium