Author

G & P Jürgens

Fabaceae

Cajanus scarabaeoides

by G & P Jürgens

(L.) Graham ex Wall.

Bhutan2012 821
Bhutan Trongsa 2050m, October
Bhutan2012 822
Bhutan Trongsa 2050m, October

Description

Cajanus scarabaeoides is a widely distributed twining legume of the Old World tropics and subtropics, recorded by GBIF from more than two dozen territories spanning the Indian subcontinent, China, Taiwan, mainland and insular Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea), Japan, Australia, the western Indian Ocean islands (Madagascar, Réunion, Mayotte) and parts of West Africa, with over 4,200 georeferenced occurrences attesting to its commonness as a weedy scrambler. In the Himalayan portion of its range it ascends well into the hills, as the photographed plant from Trongsa in central Bhutan at about 2,050 m elevation in October illustrates. It typically grows in open grasslands, scrub, forest margins, fallow fields, roadsides and other disturbed sunny situations, flowering and fruiting through the post-monsoon dry season; as a nitrogen-fixing pioneer it colonises poor soils readily and is often a component of degraded secondary vegetation.

The species is a slender, trailing or twining perennial herb to subshrub with prostrate to climbing stems clothed in spreading silky or brownish hairs. The leaves are pinnately trifoliolate, the leaflets oblong-elliptic to obovate, the terminal one largest, gland-dotted beneath and silky-pubescent on both surfaces, with small stipels and persistent stipules. The flowers are borne in short axillary racemes; the corolla is papilionaceous and yellow, the standard frequently marked with reddish or purplish veining on the back, and the calyx is campanulate with narrow lobes. The fruit is a flattened, oblong, brownish-pubescent pod constricted between the seeds and conspicuously transversely depressed, dehiscing to release several small dark seeds.

Cajanus scarabaeoides belongs to the tribe Phaseoleae (subtribe Cajaninae) and is taxonomically significant as one of the closest wild relatives of the cultivated pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan, sharing the characteristic resinous glandular dots that distinguish the genus. As a hardy, drought-tolerant wild crop relative it is valued in plant breeding as a source of genes for pest resistance and stress tolerance, and it serves locally as fodder and a green-manure cover crop. Its enormous natural range, ecological adaptability and frequency leave it of least conservation concern, though wild germplasm is increasingly recognised for its importance to food-security research.

Author: (L.) Graham ex Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 10, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, van der Maesen monograph on Cajanus and Atylosia (Wageningen Agricultural University Papers)

Orchideaceae

Calanthe brevicornu

by G & P Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 2009 56 ergebnis scaled
Nepal 2009 57 ergebnis scaled
Nepal Helambu Doroli 3550, May

Description

Calanthe brevicornu is a terrestrial orchid distributed across the Himalayas and East Asia, from Nepal and northeast India through Bhutan and Myanmar to China and Japan. GBIF records over 320 occurrences, with the majority from China. The species inhabits montane and subalpine forests, growing in deep leaf litter and humus-rich soil in the understory of Rhododendron, Quercus, and mixed broadleaved-coniferous forests at 1,300–3,600 m elevation.

This is an evergreen Calanthe of compact habit. The pseudobulbs are reduced, largely concealed by leaf sheaths. Leaves are 2–4, elliptic-lanceolate, 15–30 cm long, plicate, persisting through the winter. The inflorescence is an erect raceme 15–35 cm tall, bearing 5–15 flowers that open sequentially. The specific epithet 'brevicornu' (short horn) refers to the characteristically short, stout spur, only 3–6 mm long — distinguishing it from many congeners with elongate spurs. Flowers are 2–3 cm across, white to pale pink, the lip trilobed with a yellowish callus. Flowering occurs from April to June.

The record from Helambu at 3,550 m represents the upper elevational limit for this species. At such altitudes, flowering coincides with the pre-monsoon spring, when Calanthe brevicornu blooms alongside Rhododendron species in the subalpine zone of central Nepal.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Nepal Checklist, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 25, Pearce & Cribb: The Orchids of Bhutan (2002)

Fabaceae

Campylotropis speciosa 

by G & P Jürgens

(Royle ex Schindl.) Schindl.

Garw 2005 263 ergebnis
India Garwahl Kunol 2500m, September
Garw 2005 262 ergebnis scaled
Garw 2005 263 ergebnis scaled
India Garhwal Sitel 1900m, September

Description

Campylotropis speciosa is a Sino-Himalayan shrub distributed across the warm-temperate and subtropical belts of the southern Himalaya and adjacent China, with verified records from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. The roughly 294 occurrences trace a continuous arc along the outer ranges. In the Garhwal Himalaya it occupies open hill slopes, forest margins and scrub at around 1900-2500 m, as documented by collections from Kunol (2500 m) and Sitel (1900 m) flowering in September. It favours sunny, well-drained rocky ground and is typically a component of secondary scrub and degraded oak forest.

It forms an erect, much-branched shrub to about 2 m, with ridged, finely pubescent young branchlets. The leaves are pinnately trifoliolate; leaflets are elliptic to obovate, the terminal one largest, rounded or emarginate at the apex and mucronate, glabrescent above and appressed-pubescent beneath, the stipules subulate and persistent. The showy flowers are borne in elongate, lax terminal and axillary racemes, each pedicel articulate and bearing a single papilionaceous corolla; the standard is broad and reddish-purple to violet, the keel incurved. The fruit is a small, flattened, indehiscent, one-seeded legume with a reticulate-veined surface.

The genus Campylotropis, allied to Lespedeza within tribe Desmodieae, is distinguished by its articulate pedicels and one-seeded pods. C. speciosa is among the more ornamental Himalayan species, valued for its long racemes. As a leguminous pioneer it aids nitrogen enrichment and slope stabilisation on disturbed ground; though not assessed as threatened, its dependence on open habitats makes it sensitive to forest succession and grazing.

Author: (Royle ex Schindl.) Schindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Iokawa & Ohashi revision of Campylotropis

Brassicaceae

Cardamine elegantula

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 2001 87 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 2920m, April

Description

Cardamine elegantula is an Eastern Himalayan species ranging from eastern Nepal through Sikkim and the northern West Bengal hills into Bhutan, with GBIF recording 17 occurrences across BT, NP and IN. It is a plant of cool, humid temperate forest, occurring on shaded, moss-covered banks, in damp ravines and along streamsides where the soil remains moist through the growing season. The photographed population was found in East Nepal at Gupka Pokhari near 2920 m, flowering in April, which is characteristic of its early-season anthesis at montane elevations broadly between 2500 and 3500 m.

The species is a slender, glabrous perennial herb arising from a thin rhizome, with erect to ascending, sparingly branched stems. The leaves are pinnately compound: the cauline leaves bear several pairs of ovate to lanceolate, toothed lateral leaflets and a larger terminal leaflet, the whole foliage delicate in texture. Flowers are borne in lax terminal racemes; each has four free sepals and four white to pale pink, clawed petals arranged in the cruciform pattern of the Brassicaceae, with the characteristic tetradynamous androecium of six stamens. The fruit is a slender, linear silique that dehisces elastically along two valves to disperse the small seeds in a single row.

Within Cardamine, a large cosmopolitan genus of bittercresses, C. elegantula belongs to the perennial, rhizomatous Himalayan element distinguished by its graceful habit, pinnate leaves and slender siliques. As a moisture-demanding forest understorey herb it serves as an indicator of intact, undisturbed temperate woodland. It has not been formally assessed for conservation status; its restricted Eastern Himalayan range makes it potentially sensitive to forest clearance and habitat desiccation.

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

Brassicaceae

Cardamine griffithii

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

BhutanPG2011 103
Bhutan Chogcham, 3450m June
BhutanPG2011 685 01 01 scaled
Bhutan Luksor, 2900m July
BhutanPG2011 116 scaled
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3500m June

Description

A perennial bittercress of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent mountains, recorded from China, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Myanmar, with around 577 GBIF occurrences. It is a plant of cool, wet ground, frequenting stream banks, seepages, marshy meadows, damp forest floors and shaded rocky places in the temperate to subalpine belt, mostly between about 2800 and 3800 m. The featured collections come from several Bhutanese sites in June and July, including Chogcham at 3450 m, Luksor at 2900 m and Tsochenchen at 3500 m, all moist, sheltered montane habitats.

The species grows from a slender rhizome, producing erect or ascending, glabrous to sparsely hairy stems. The leaves are pinnately compound, the lower with several pairs of stalked, ovate to lanceolate, toothed leaflets and a larger terminal leaflet; cauline leaves are similar but reduced upward. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of small white to pale lilac flowers, each with four sepals and four clawed, spreading petals in the typical cruciform pattern, six tetradynamous stamens and a superior bilocular ovary. The fruit is a slender, linear, slightly flattened silique that dehisces elastically from the base, scattering the small seeds in a single row per locule.

Accepted by POWO and GBIF, C. griffithii belongs to a taxonomically intricate genus in which Himalayan species are distinguished by leaf division, petal size and habitat. Like many bittercresses it is closely tied to permanently moist microhabitats and the elastic silique aids local seed dispersal. It is widespread and often locally common in suitable damp ground across its range, and is not considered threatened, though it depends on intact montane wetlands and riparian zones.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Jafri monograph of Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Cardamine loxostemonoides

by G & P Jürgens

O.E.Schulz

Nepal 99 539 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 4000m, June

Description

Cardamine loxostemonoides is a Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan bittercress recorded from Nepal, Pakistan, China, India and Bhutan, the South African and other anomalous entries among its roughly 156 occurrences best treated as database noise rather than native range. It is an alpine to subalpine herb of cool, moist habitats, growing along snowmelt rills, in damp meadows, beside streams and on seepage slopes where the soil stays saturated. The photographed plant from the Churta-Khola in West Nepal, at about 4000 m and flowering in June, is typical of its high-montane preference and its early-summer flowering coinciding with the surge of meltwater following snow retreat.

It is a perennial herb arising from a slender rhizome, with erect to ascending, often few-branched stems. The leaves are pinnately compound or pinnatisect with several pairs of lateral leaflets or segments, the terminal one frequently larger, the texture thin and the margins entire to lobed. The flowers are arranged in terminal racemes and show the regular four-petalled cruciform corolla of the family, white to pale pink or lilac, with six tetradynamous stamens. The fruit is a slender, linear, laterally compressed silique that dehisces elastically by two valves coiling from the base to fling the seeds, the style persisting as a short beak; the epithet alludes to a resemblance in stamen form to Loxostemon.

Cardamine is a large, cosmopolitan genus within Brassicaceae notable for frequent polyploidy and hybridisation, traits that complicate species delimitation in the Himalayan alpine flora. Like many relatives it favours moist, disturbed microsites and disperses by explosive silique dehiscence, allowing rapid colonisation of freshly exposed ground. The species is widespread across the high Himalaya and faces no specific conservation threat, although its dependence on reliable snowmelt moisture makes such hygrophilous alpine herbs potentially responsive to changes in precipitation and glacial regime.

Author: O.E.Schulz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Bhutan, Al-Shehbaz revisionary studies of Cardamine (Brassicaceae)

Brassicaceae

Cardamine pulchella

by G & P Jürgens

(Hook.f. & Thomson) Al-Shehbaz & G.Yang

Sikkim 2006 422 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 2800m, May

Description

Cardamine pulchella is a delicate perennial herb of the Sino-Himalayan high mountains, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar across about 147 occurrences. It inhabits cool, moist alpine and subalpine sites, growing on damp grassy slopes, beside rills and snowmelt flushes, and in open turf among rocks, generally from around 2800 to over 4500 m. The image from Kishong in West Bengal at about 2800 m, flowering in May, captures it near the lower edge of its range, where the early-season moisture of melting snow supports its slender, soft growth.

The plant arises from a slender creeping rhizome and produces low, often somewhat fleshy stems. The leaves are pinnately divided or compound, with a few rounded to oblong leaflets, the terminal leaflet frequently larger; both basal and cauline leaves are present, and the foliage is thin-textured and glabrous to sparsely hairy. The flowers are borne in a short few-flowered raceme and are relatively large for the genus, with four free sepals and four spreading petals that are white to pale lilac or pinkish-purple, conspicuous against the small stature of the plant. There are six tetradynamous stamens. The fruit is a slender linear silique that opens by two valves springing elastically from the persistent septum to scatter the seeds.

The species was transferred to its current placement by Al-Shehbaz and G. Yang, reflecting modern molecular and morphological reassessment of the alpine Asian Cardamine. It is part of a group of high-elevation crucifers adapted to short growing seasons and cold, wet substrates, completing flowering and fruiting rapidly after snowmelt. Though not assessed as threatened, such specialised alpine herbs are vulnerable to the upward compression of suitable habitat under climate warming, and to disturbance of fragile snowbed and flush communities.

Author: (Hook.f. & Thomson) Al-Shehbaz & G.Yang · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Al-Shehbaz revisions of Asian Brassicaceae, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Brassicaceae

Cardamine yunnanensis

by G & P Jürgens

Franch.

Sikkim 2006 346 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tolung 2500m, May

Description

Cardamine yunnanensis is a temperate montane bittercress distributed through China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan, its 298 georeferenced occurrences indicating a fairly widespread Sino-Himalayan presence. It is a herb of cool, moist, shaded habitats, occupying forest floors, stream sides, damp banks and seepage areas within the temperate zone. The collection from Tolung in West Bengal, India, at 2500 m in May reflects its spring growth and flowering in moist broadleaved forest, when soils are kept reliably damp by snowmelt and early-season precipitation.

The plant is a slender annual or perennial herb with erect or ascending, often slightly fleshy stems arising from a thin rootstock. The leaves are usually pinnately compound or lobed, with a larger terminal leaflet and smaller lateral segments, the margins entire to toothed. The flowers are arranged in terminal racemes and follow the cruciferous plan, with four sepals, four white to pale lilac petals in a cross, and the tetradynamous androecium of six stamens. The diagnostic fruit is a slender, linear, laterally compressed silique that dehisces explosively, the valves coiling elastically to fling the small seeds away from the parent plant.

Cardamine is a large, cosmopolitan genus of the Brassicaceae characterised by its narrow siliques and frequently divided leaves, with a notable concentration of species in the Sino-Himalayan mountains. Many species are calcifuge moisture-lovers and several are used as wild greens. With a broad distribution spanning several countries and tolerance of disturbed damp ground, C. yunnanensis is secure and not considered threatened.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Cardamine systematic and phylogenetic studies (Brassicaceae), Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton)

Liliaceae

Cardiocrinum giganterum

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall.) Makino

Garh 07 234 ergebnis
India Garwahl Trijugi Narayan 2250m, June
Sikkim 2006 469 ergebnis
Sikkim Ringi Chu 2200, May
Sikkim 2006 471 ergebnis
Sikkim Ringi Chu 2200, May

Description

Cardiocrinum giganteum is the world's largest lily, distributed from central Nepal through Sikkim, Bhutan, and northeast India into upper Myanmar and southwestern China (Yunnan, Sichuan, Xizang). With over 1,370 occurrences recorded on GBIF, it is well-documented across its range. The species inhabits moist, shaded ravines and openings in temperate broadleaved and mixed forests at elevations of 1,500–2,800 m, favouring deep, humus-rich soils under canopies of Magnolia, Acer, and Rhododendron.
Cardiocrinum giganteum is a monocarpic perennial growing from a large, conical bulb up to 15 cm in diameter. In its final flowering year, the plant produces a stout, hollow stem reaching 1.5–3.5 m in height. Basal leaves are broadly cordate, glossy dark green, up to 45 cm long, with a conspicuous reticulate venation. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of 10–20 large, trumpet-shaped, fragrant flowers, each 15–20 cm long, white with maroon-purple streaking inside the throat. The six tepals are slightly recurved at the tips. The fruit is an oblong, erect capsule, 4–6 cm long, containing numerous flat, winged seeds adapted for wind dispersal. After flowering and fruiting, the parent bulb dies, but several daughter bulblets persist at the base, requiring 5–7 years to reach flowering size.
The species was first described from material collected by Nathaniel Wallich in Nepal. The photographed specimens from Trijugi Narayan in Garhwal (2,250 m) and Ringi Chu in Sikkim (2,200 m) represent populations near the western and central portions of the range, respectively. Though widely cultivated in temperate gardens, wild populations face pressure from habitat fragmentation and collection. The var. yunnanense, sometimes recognized from southwestern China, differs in its bronze-flushed foliage, but its taxonomic distinctness remains debated.

Author: (Wall.) Makino · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Grierson & Long (1983)

Fagaceae

Castanopsis hystrix

by G & P Jürgens

A.DC.

Nepal 97 413 P797 ergebnis
Nepal Tashigang 2230m, May
Nepal 97 414 P800 ergebnis
Nepal Tashigang 2230m, May
Nepal 97 417 G804 ergebnis
Nepal Tashigang 2230m, May

Description

Castanopsis hystrix A.DC. is an evergreen forest tree of the Fagaceae, widespread through the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burmese region into southern China and Taiwan; native occurrences span India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and China, with introduced records in Japan and elsewhere, and over 1,100 georeferenced collections overall. It is a dominant or codominant canopy species of subtropical and lower-temperate broad-leaved evergreen forest, often forming mixed stands with Quercus, Lithocarpus, Schima and laurels on humid montane slopes. The photographed tree from Tashigang in eastern Nepal at about 2,230 m in May lies within the species' characteristic mid-elevation belt, typically between roughly 1,000 and 2,500 m.

It is a medium to large tree with a straight bole and greyish, longitudinally fissured bark. The leaves are alternate, simple, leathery, lanceolate to oblong, entire or finely toothed toward the apex, glossy above and often coppery-tomentose beneath. The plant is monoecious: erect catkin-like spikes bear the small unisexual flowers, the staminate above and pistillate below. The defining feature is the densely spiny cupule (whence the epithet hystrix, 'porcupine'), an indehiscent or tardily splitting involucre clothed in branched echinate spines and enclosing a single ovoid, brown nut.

Castanopsis is a large Asian genus centred on the Sino-Himalayan and Malesian regions, and C. hystrix is among its most economically important members, valued for durable timber and as a keystone of montane evergreen forest ecosystems. The acorns are an important wildlife food. Although the species remains widespread and is not globally threatened, primary stands have been depleted by logging and shifting cultivation, and it is increasingly used in reforestation.

Author: A.DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 4, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Soepadmo: Fagaceae in Flora Malesiana (1972)