Araceae

Araceae

Arisaema utile

Araceae

Rhaphidophora glauca

Araceae

Arisaema concinnum

Araceae

Arisaema echinatum

Araceae

Araceae

Amorphophallus napalensis

by GP Jürgens

(Wall.) Bogner & Mayo

Bh2008 63 P103
Bhutan Punaka-Chu, 1500m April

Description

Amorphophallus napalensis is a tuberous aroid of the subtropical Himalaya and adjacent Southeast Asia, recorded from India, Nepal, Thailand, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh across some 80 GBIF occurrences. The photographed plant was found along the Punaka-Chu in Bhutan at about 1500 m in April. It grows in moist broad-leaved forest, on shaded slopes, ravines and forest floors, typically between roughly 500 and 1800 m, emerging with the pre-monsoon and monsoon rains from a dormant underground tuber.

The plant arises from a depressed-globose subterranean tuber and produces, in season, a single large solitary leaf with a long mottled petiole and a blade divided into numerous segments giving an umbrella-like, much-dissected appearance. The inflorescence, typical of the genus, is a spadix subtended by a spathe; the spadix bears a basal zone of female flowers below a zone of male flowers, topped by a sterile appendix. At anthesis the inflorescence emits a fetid odour and may generate heat (thermogenesis) to attract carrion-feeding flies and beetles, which effect pollination. The infructescence ripens into a cluster of fleshy berries.

Amorphophallus is a large palaeotropical genus notable for these protogynous, often malodorous inflorescences and their fly-and-beetle (sapromyophilous) pollination, with the berries subsequently dispersed by birds. The seasonal solitary leaf and dormant tuber adapt the species to the marked wet-dry rhythm of the monsoon forest. A. napalensis is widespread and not regarded as threatened, though, like many forest aroids, it depends on the maintenance of shaded, humid woodland habitat.

Author: (Wall.) Bogner & Mayo · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Hetterscheid & Ittenbach – Revision of the Genus Amorphophallus

Araceae

Arisaema consanguineum

by GP Jürgens

Schott

Bhutan2014 114
Bhutan Kadi 1600m, May
Bh09 254 P423
Bhutan Phobjika, 2900m June
Nepal 99 234 ergebnis
West-Nepal Gattalekh 2800m, June

Description

Arisaema consanguineum Schott is a widespread tuberous aroid of the Sino-Himalayan region, recorded from China, Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Japan, with cultivated records reaching Europe and North America; GBIF documents over 2000 occurrences. It grows in shaded forest, forest margins, bamboo thickets, scrub and grassy slopes, generally between about 1500 and 3300 m. The illustrated plants were recorded at Kadi (1600 m, May) and Phobjika (2900 m, June) in Bhutan and at Gattalekh in West Nepal (2800 m, June), spanning the warm-temperate to cool-temperate montane zone where this jack-in-the-pulpit emerges with the early monsoon.

The plant arises from a depressed-globose tuber, producing a stout pseudostem sheathed by the mottled petiole bases. There is usually a single radiate (pedately compound) leaf bearing numerous narrow, lanceolate leaflets that frequently terminate in long, threadlike drip-tips and are sometimes silvery-banded. The inflorescence is a spadix enclosed by a green to purplish, white-striped spathe whose limb arches forward; the spadix appendage is slender and elongate. Plants are typically dioecious, sex expression varying with tuber size. The fruit is a dense cylindrical infructescence of red berries borne on the persistent spadix.

A member of the species-rich genus Arisaema, this taxon belongs to the radiate-leaved Sino-Himalayan group and is prized in horticulture for its striking foliage. Sex change linked to plant vigour is an ecological hallmark of the genus, and the showy berries are bird-dispersed. The species is common and adaptable, not of conservation concern, though wild tubers are locally harvested for traditional medicine.

Author: Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Gusman & Gusman The Genus Arisaema

Araceae

Arisaema costatum

by GP Jürgens

Mart.

Nepal 97 313 P617
Nepal Honngaon 2300m May
Nepal 1994 192 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola
2100m April
Nepal 2009 98 ergebnis
Nepal Helambu Samathang 2410, May

Description

Arisaema costatum is a tuberous aroid of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from Nepal, China, India and Bhutan across about 99 occurrences. It is a herb of moist, shaded broadleaved and mixed forest, forest margins, ravines and damp humus-rich slopes at mid montane elevations. The photographed plants come from Nepal at Honngaon (2300 m, May), eastern Nepal in the Mewa-Khola (2100 m, April) and the Helambu at Samathang (2410 m, May), a consistent band of cool, humid forest understorey where this cobra-lily emerges with the spring rains.

The plant arises from a depressed globose tuber and typically produces a single large pedate leaf divided into numerous lanceolate, acuminate leaflets, the central one largest, the lamina conspicuously ribbed, the costae giving rise to the epithet costatum. The inflorescence is a spadix enveloped by a spathe whose tube is greenish and the limb dark purple to maroon, strongly striped with white, and drawn out into a long, slender, pendent filiform tail. Arisaema species are commonly paradioecious, individuals shifting sex with size and vigour: smaller plants bear staminate flowers, larger ones pistillate. Pollinated by fungus-gnats lured into the spathe, fertile plants ripen a dense club of bright red berries.

GBIF accepts the name. The genus Arisaema is a centre of Himalayan diversity, with A. costatum among its most striking species for the boldly white-striped, long-tailed spathe. The size-dependent sex change is an adaptive reproductive strategy linked to tuber resources. Widespread within suitable forest, the species is not regarded as threatened, though forest clearance locally reduces its habitat.

Author: Mart. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Gusman monograph of Arisaema

Araceae

Arisaema elephas

by G & P Jürgens

Buchet

BhutanPG2011 134
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3550m June

Description

Arisaema elephas is a tuberous perennial aroid of the eastern Himalaya and the Sino-Himalayan mountains, recorded from China, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with around 426 occurrences in GBIF. It grows in moist subalpine and alpine habitats, in open coniferous and Rhododendron forest, scrub, grassy slopes and meadow margins, generally between about 2700 and 4300 m. The photographed plant was collected in Bhutan at Tsochenchen at 3550 m in June, an elevation and cool, humid montane setting characteristic of the species, which emerges and flowers early in the growing season after snowmelt.

The plant arises from a depressed-globose tuber and typically produces a single leaf divided into three leaflets, the lateral leaflets often markedly asymmetric, with entire to undulate margins. The inflorescence is a spathe enclosing the spadix; the spathe tube is greenish and the limb dark purple to blackish, and the spadix is prolonged into a long, slender, downward-curving appendix that recalls an elephant's trunk, hence the epithet elephas. As in most Arisaema the plants are often functionally dioecious, sex expression shifting with tuber size and vigour. The fruit is a dense club-shaped infructescence of red berries.

Arisaema is a large genus centred on the Himalaya and East Asia, notable for its sequential hermaphroditism (size-dependent sex change) and for pollination by fungus gnats and other small flies attracted into the spathe chamber. Arisaema elephas is a distinctive and well-marked species of the A. elephas group, recognised by its long pendent spadix appendix. It is widespread within its montane range and not currently considered threatened, though alpine populations are sensitive to grazing and habitat disturbance.

Author: Buchet · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Arisaema (Gusman & Gusman)

Araceae

Arisaema erubescens

by G & P Jürgens

Schott

Nepal 2009 91 ergebnis
Nepal 2009 102 ergebnis

Both: Nepal Bolgoan, 1980m, May

Description

Arisaema erubescens is a widespread tuberous aroid distributed from the Himalaya across much of eastern and southeastern Asia. Its extensive range spans Nepal, northern India (from Uttarakhand to Arunachal Pradesh), Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and much of China, with naturalised populations reported from several other countries. GBIF records over 1,350 occurrences, reflecting its broad distribution. The species inhabits the understorey of subtropical and warm temperate broadleaved forests, forest margins, and shaded ravines at elevations of 900–3,000 m. The photograph from Bolgoan in Nepal at 1,980 m, taken in May, shows the species during its characteristic spring emergence.
The plant arises from a depressed-globose tuber, 2–5 cm in diameter. The pseudostem is 15–40 cm tall, sheathed by cataphylls. Leaves are usually solitary, pedate with 7–15 leaflets; leaflets are elliptic to lanceolate, acuminate, the central one largest, 8–18 cm long, with entire or slightly undulate margins. The spathe is 8–15 cm long, with a tubular lower portion that is green striped with white or pale purple, and an arching, ovate-lanceolate limb that is typically purple-brown to dark maroon — the blushing colour referenced in the epithet erubescens. The spadix appendage is elongate, cylindrical, projecting well beyond the spathe tube, often sigmoid or pendulous. Plants are dioecious or sequentially monoecious. The infructescence is a dense cluster of bright red, globose berries.
Arisaema erubescens is taxonomically variable across its vast range, and several varieties have been described, including var. erubescens and var. onoticum. The species complex has been the subject of considerable systematic revision, as morphological boundaries with related taxa such as A. consanguineum can be subtle. It is one of the most commonly encountered Arisaema species in Himalayan forests and is not considered threatened. The tubers contain calcium oxalate crystals and are toxic if ingested raw, though they have been used in traditional medicine in several cultures.

Author: Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Li & Hay: Araceae in Flora of China Vol. 23, Pradhan: Himalayan Cobra-Lilies (1997)

Araceae

Arisaema exappendiculatum

by G & P Jürgens

Hara

Nepal 2009 20 ergebnis
Nepal Helambu Koktrok 2500m, May

Description

Arisaema exappendiculatum is a Himalayan tuberous aroid of restricted distribution. GBIF holds only some 43 occurrences, chiefly from Nepal and adjacent China, with a handful of herbarium-derived European records (Belgium). It is a plant of moist temperate broadleaved and mixed forest, shaded ravines and shrubby slopes, growing in humus-rich soils. The illustrated plant was photographed in the Helambu region of central Nepal near Koktrok at about 2,500 m in May, a typical station within its montane band of roughly 2,000–3,000 m, where it emerges and flowers with the onset of the pre-monsoon rains.

The plant arises from a depressed-globose tuber producing usually a single leaf with a long sheathing petiole. The leaf is pedately divided into several oblong-lanceolate, acuminate leaflets. The inflorescence is a spathe with a convolute tube and an arching, acuminate limb, greenish to purplish and often pale-striped. As the epithet indicates, the spadix appendix is reduced or absent (exappendiculate), the spadix tapering abruptly above the fertile zone. The plants are dioecious, sex expression depending on tuber size; the fruiting spadix bears a cluster of red berries.

The absence of a developed spadix appendage distinguishes A. exappendiculatum within the predominantly Asian genus Arisaema and aligns it with related Himalayan species. Owing to its narrow range and modest population sizes it warrants monitoring, though no formal IUCN assessment is established. Note that the input wp_link references A. erubescens, with which this taxon should not be confused.

Author: Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Nepal, Flora of China Vol. 23, GBIF, Gusman & Gusman: The Genus Arisaema (2006)

Araceae

Arisaema griffithii

by GP Jürgens

Schott

Bhutan2014 360
Bhutan Tumching-La 3100m, May
Bhutan2014 830
Bhutan Thimphu 2450m, May
Sikkim2004 399 P681
Sikkim/India Lachung 3200m
Nepal 2001 104 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 3050m, April

Description

Arisaema griffithii is an eastern Himalayan tuberous geophyte distributed through Nepal, Sikkim and Darjeeling in India, Bhutan, and into adjacent southern China (Xizang, Yunnan) and northern Myanmar, with georeferenced records also from Bangladesh. It is a plant of the cool temperate zone, growing in shaded moist forest, shrubberies, forest clearings and grassy slopes broadly between 2400 and 3600 m. The images document its altitudinal span, from Bhutan's Tumching-La at 3100 m and Thimphu at 2450 m flowering in May, to Lachung in Sikkim at 3200 m and Gupka Pokhari in east Nepal at 3050 m in April.

The plant arises from a depressed tuber and typically bears two trifoliolate leaves with broadly ovate to rhombic, acuminate leaflets, the lateral pair often oblique. The species is celebrated for its remarkable inflorescence: the spathe is large and deeply purple, conspicuously net-veined with pale reticulation, with the tube broadly funnel-shaped and the lamina arched and downturned, its margins recurved. The spadix appendix is exserted and elongated into a long, pendent whip-like flagellum. The plants are dioecious, with small unisexual flowers crowded at the base of the spadix, and the female inflorescence develops a cluster of red berries at maturity.

Within Araceae, A. griffithii belongs to section Sinarisaema and is one of the most distinctive members of the genus, named for William Griffith. Its drooping, intricately veined spathe lures fungus-gnat and small fly visitors into the inflorescence. Prized among specialist gardeners, it remains locally frequent and is not considered globally threatened, though vulnerable to habitat loss and tuber collection.

Author: Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Gusman & Gusman 'The Genus Arisaema: A Monograph for Botanists and Nature Lovers'

Araceae

Arisaema intermedium

by GP Jürgens

Blume

Nepal 2001 241 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Niuli Kharka 2600m, May
Nepal 2001 242 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Niuli Kharka 2600m, May
Garh 07 264 ergebnis
India Garhwal Belag Khal 2800m, June

Description

Arisaema intermedium is a Himalayan tuberous aroid distributed along the temperate forest belt of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from India, Nepal, China, Bhutan and Pakistan across some 118 georeferenced collections. It is a plant of moist, humus-rich woodland floors, shady banks, forest clearings and the margins of rhododendron, oak and conifer forest, where it emerges with the onset of the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. Its typical elevational band lies between roughly 2,400 and 3,200 m, consistent with the documented occurrences from Niuli Kharka in the Nepalese district of Gorkha at about 2,600 m in May and from Belag Khal in Garhwal, India, at around 2,800 m in June. The flowering coincides with the early growing season before the leaf is fully expanded.

The species grows from a subglobose underground tuber and produces a solitary leaf divided into three leaflets, the central leaflet broadly ovate to rhombic and the laterals obliquely ovate, the blade often somewhat undulate and acuminate. The inflorescence is a typical aroid spathe-and-spadix structure, the pseudostem and peduncle arising together; the spathe tube is greenish and the limb arched, frequently striped purplish and white with a long-acuminate apex. The diagnostic feature of the genus is the spadix appendage, which in this species is elongate and gradually tapering, projecting forward beyond the spathe mouth. As in other Arisaema the plants are paradioecious, smaller individuals bearing male flowers and larger ones female; pollinated female spadices develop into a dense club of fleshy red berries at maturity.

Arisaema intermedium belongs to a notoriously variable complex within section Sinarisaema, and its delimitation against allied taxa such as A. propinquum has long occupied aroid systematists. The genus exemplifies size-dependent sex change (sequential hermaphroditism keyed to tuber reserves), a reproductive strategy of considerable interest to evolutionary ecologists, with pollination effected by fungus-gnats and small flies trapped within the spathe. Though not formally assessed as threatened and locally frequent within its range, the species shares the general vulnerability of forest-floor Himalayan herbs to habitat degradation and the harvesting pressures that affect tuberous aroids.

Author: Blume · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 23, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Gusman & Gusman: The Genus Arisaema, A Monograph for Botanists and Nature Lovers

Araceae

Arisaema jacquemontii

by GP Jürgens

Blume

Sikkim2003 240 P330
Sikkim Dzongri 3920m, August
Sikkim2003 387 P547
Sikkim Dzongri 3920m, August

Description

Arisaema jacquemontii is a slender alpine cobra-lily widely distributed across the Himalaya, ranging from Afghanistan and Pakistan eastward through northern India, Nepal and Bhutan into south-western China. GBIF records some 568 occurrences, the core lying in India, Nepal, China, Pakistan and Bhutan, with additional cultivated or vouchered material reported from Britain, Belgium and Canada. The species inhabits subalpine and alpine meadows, open forest margins, shrubberies and moist grassy slopes, generally between about 2400 and 4500 m. The plant shown was photographed in Sikkim near Dzongri at 3920 m in August, a high pasture setting typical of its summer flowering on the eastern Himalayan ridges.

The plant grows from a depressed, subglobose tuber and produces usually a single pedately divided leaf with five to eleven elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate leaflets borne on a green, sometimes faintly mottled petiole sheathed at the base. The inflorescence is a spathe with a green tube and an erect to slightly arched, narrowly acuminate limb striped green and white. The spadix bears a slender, cylindrical, greenish appendix shorter than the spathe; the species is dioecious, with sterile or fertile zones of minute unisexual flowers concealed within the tube. The fruit is a dense club-shaped infructescence of orange-red berries each containing few seeds.

Arisaema, the largest genus of the Araceae in temperate Asia, exhibits remarkable sexual lability, individual tubers shifting between male and female expression with size and resource status. A. jacquemontii belongs to the section characterised by green, unmottled spathes and is among the most widespread and hardy Himalayan species, frequently grown by alpine gardeners. It is not considered threatened, though high-altitude collection and grazing locally affect populations.

Author: Blume · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Arisaema: A Monograph for Botanists and Nature Lovers, Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family

Araceae

Arisaema nepenthoides

by GP Jürgens

Mart.

Bhutan2014 32
Bhutan, Trashigang 1300m, May
Nepal 97 432 G839
Nepal Tashigaon 3100m May
Nepal 1994 269 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 3200m May 
Nepal1992 184 P270 ergebnis
Nepal Banyang 1900m March 

Description

Arisaema nepenthoides is a Himalayan cobra lily distributed from Nepal eastward through Sikkim, Bhutan and north-east India to Myanmar and south-western China, with about 322 GBIF occurrences reflecting its montane range. It is a herb of cool temperate to subalpine forest, growing in moist broad-leaved and conifer-Rhododendron forest, shady banks and forest margins, broadly from 1,900 to 3,600 m. The localities recorded for the photographed plants span this range, from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1,300 m and Banyang in Nepal at 1,900 m to Tashigaon at 3,100 m and Milka Danda at 3,200 m, flowering between March and May as the snows recede.

It is a tuberous perennial arising from a depressed corm, producing a stout, conspicuously mottled pseudostem patterned with brownish-purple and pale markings reminiscent of a snake's skin. Usually two leaves are produced, each pedately divided into several elliptic to oblanceolate leaflets. The inflorescence is a spadix enclosed in a spathe whose tube is greenish and prominently striped, opening into a hooded, incurved limb that recalls the pitcher of a Nepenthes, hence the epithet nepenthoides. The species is dioecious, with the sexes distinguished by the spadix appendage; pollinated female plants develop a dense head of orange-red berries, each with few seeds.

Arisaema is a large genus centred on the Sino-Himalayan region, and A. nepenthoides belongs to a group recognised by its mottled pseudostem and distinctive hooded spathe. Like many relatives it shows sequential gender change, individuals functioning as male when small and as female once the tuber attains sufficient size, an adaptation to resource availability. Pollination is effected by fungus gnats and small flies attracted into the spathe chamber. The conspicuous spathe makes it a sought-after ornamental, but it remains widespread and locally common across the eastern Himalaya and is not considered threatened.

Author: Mart. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Arisaema (Gusman & Gusman), Araceae of the Himalaya

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