Araliaceae

Araliaceae

Brassaiopsis mitis

Araliaceae

Aralia gigantea

Araliaceae

Brassaiopsis hispida

Araliaceae

Merrilliopanax alpinus

Araliaceae

Araliaceae

Aralia kingdon-wardii

by G & P Jürgens

J.Wen, Lowry & Esser

Bhutan2015 646
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1600m, October

Description

Aralia kingdon-wardii is a narrowly distributed eastern Himalayan and southwest Chinese species known from China, Myanmar, Bhutan and northeastern India, with GBIF recording only about 45 occurrences, reflecting its rarity and restricted range. It is a plant of warm-temperate to subtropical broadleaf forest, the photographed material coming from the Mo-Chu valley in western Bhutan at 1600 m in October. It occupies humid forest interiors, ravine slopes, clearings and stream banks on rich, moist soils in the lower montane belt, where it grows as a tall coarse herb or soft-wooded shrub in shaded to semi-open situations.

The species is a robust, often prickly perennial with stout stems and very large, two- to three-pinnately compound leaves, the numerous ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaflets serrate along the margins and acuminate at the apex. The small, five-merous, greenish-white flowers have an inferior ovary and are borne in numerous umbellules aggregated into a very large, much-branched terminal panicle, the typical inflorescence architecture of Aralia. The fruit is a small, dark, more or less globose, ribbed drupe containing several flattened pyrenes, ripening to purple-black and dispersed by birds.

Named for the plant collector Frank Kingdon-Ward, the species was described by J. Wen, Lowry and Esser as part of modern revisionary work clarifying Asian Aralia and the segregation of related Araliaceae genera. Given its limited known range and low number of records, A. kingdon-wardii is of potential conservation interest, dependent on the persistence of intact eastern Himalayan montane forest; its panicles of nectar-rich flowers and bird-dispersed drupes integrate it into forest pollinator and frugivore networks.

Author: J.Wen, Lowry & Esser · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Wen, Lowry & Esser studies in Asian Aralia (Araliaceae), Frodin & Govaerts World Checklist of Araliaceae

Araliaceae

Brassaiopsis glomerulata

by GP Jürgens

(Blume) Regel

Bhutan2014 186
Bhutan Trashyangtse 2150m, May

Description

Brassaiopsis glomerulata is a small tree or large shrub of the eastern Himalaya and Southeast Asia, distributed from India, Nepal and Bhutan through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia into southern China; its c. 954 georeferenced records make it the most widespread member of its genus. It inhabits evergreen broadleaf forest, secondary woodland, ravines and forest margins, generally between 1000 and 2400 m. The plant photographed at Trashyangtse in eastern Bhutan at 2150 m in May grows in the humid subtropical to warm-temperate forest belt where it occupies the understorey and disturbed forest gaps along streams.

It is an evergreen, sparsely branched tree to c. 8-10 m, the young stems and petioles often armed with short prickles. The leaves are large and palmately compound or deeply palmately lobed, long-petioled, with serrate, acuminate leaflets, clustered toward the branch tips in typical araliaceous fashion. The inflorescence is a large terminal panicle of numerous small umbels, the flowers densely aggregated into globose clusters (hence "glomerulata"). The flowers are small, greenish to whitish, with five petals and five stamens and an inferior ovary crowned by a short style. The fruit is a small, globose, fleshy purple-black drupe containing flattened seeds.

Described originally in Hedera by Blume and transferred to Brassaiopsis by Regel, the species belongs to the Araliaceae, the ivy and ginseng family. Its small drupes are dispersed by frugivorous birds, while the open umbels are visited by generalist insects. The leaves and bark feature in regional ethnomedicine. Widespread and adaptable to disturbed habitats, B. glomerulata is not considered threatened across its broad range.

Author: (Blume) Regel · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Thailand, Lowry & Wen's studies of Asian Araliaceae

Araliaceae

Brassaiopsis hainla

by GP Jürgens

Seem.

Bhutan2015 205
Bhutan Zhemgang 910m, October

Description

Brassaiopsis hainla is a small tree or treelet of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Southeast Asia, distributed from northern India, Nepal and Bhutan through southern China into Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. GBIF records some 350 occurrences, the core in China, India, Nepal and Myanmar. It is a plant of subtropical to warm-temperate broad-leaved forest, growing along streamsides, ravine slopes, forest margins and secondary woodland, broadly from the foothills up to around 1500–2000 m. The individual shown was photographed in Bhutan at Zhemgang at 910 m in October, in humid hill forest characteristic of its lower-montane habitat.

The plant is a sparingly branched small tree with stout, often prickly stems and large, palmately lobed or palmately compound leaves clustered toward the branch tips on long petioles; the lobes are oblong-lanceolate, acuminate and serrate, and young growth is frequently armed with scattered prickles. The minute, greenish-white flowers are five-merous and borne in umbels arranged into large terminal, paniculate or racemose compound inflorescences. Each flower has a reduced calyx, free petals and an inferior ovary crowned by a stylar column. The fruit is a small, globose to slightly flattened drupe-like berry, ripening dark, containing several flattened pyrenes.

Brassaiopsis is a genus of the Araliaceae centred on the Sino-Himalaya and Indochina, allied to Aralia and Schefflera and distinguished by its armed stems, palmate leaves and umbellate inflorescences. The young shoots and leaves of B. hainla are eaten as a vegetable in parts of the Himalaya, and the species has local ethnobotanical use. It is reasonably widespread across its montane forest range and is not regarded as globally threatened, though it depends on the persistence of intact broad-leaved forest.

Author: Seem. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, An Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, A Systematic Revision of the Genus Brassaiopsis (Araliaceae)

Araliaceae

Heptapleurum digitatum

by GP Jürgens

(G.Don ex Loudon) Lowry & G.M.Plunkett

Bhutan2014 71
Bhutan Trashigang 1350m, May

Description

Heptapleurum digitatum is an Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Malesian tree distributed from the eastern Himalaya through northeastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand into the Malesian region, with GBIF recording around 116 occurrences across India, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. It is a plant of warm subtropical to lower montane broadleaf forest, occurring in the foothill belt; the illustrated material comes from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1350 m, flowering in May. It favours humid, evergreen and semi-evergreen forest, ravine slopes and stream banks, where it grows as an understorey to canopy tree, sometimes epiphytic or hemi-epiphytic when young.

The species is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree with stout, often sparsely branched stems bearing conspicuous leaf scars. The leaves are large, alternate, long-petiolate and digitately (palmately) compound, with several to many oblong-elliptic, entire, glabrous, coriaceous leaflets radiating from the petiole apex, the whole giving the characteristic umbrella-plant silhouette of the genus. The numerous small flowers are five-merous, with minute petals and an inferior ovary, arranged in umbellules grouped into large, much-branched terminal panicles. The fruit is a small, subglobose, slightly ribbed drupe with several pyrenes, attractive to birds.

The combination (G.Don ex Loudon) Lowry & G.M.Plunkett reflects the segregation of the Asian "Schefflera" lineages, this species having long been treated under Schefflera. Heptapleurum sensu stricto is now recognised as a large palaeotropical genus within Araliaceae. Widespread and frequent in suitable forest, the species is not considered threatened, and its bird-dispersed drupes and accessible nectar make it an important resource in subtropical forest food webs.

Author: (G.Don ex Loudon) Lowry & G.M.Plunkett · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of British India (Hooker), Lowry & Plunkett revision of Schefflera/Heptapleurum (Araliaceae), Frodin & Govaerts World Checklist of Araliaceae

Araliaceae

Heptapleurum griffithii

by G & P Jürgens

(Seem.) ined.

Sikkim 2006 482 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 481 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1750m, May
Sikkim 2006 310 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1750m, May

Description

Heptapleurum griffithii is an eastern Himalayan araliad documented from Bhutan and adjacent south-western China, the GBIF record being sparse with only about three georeferenced occurrences, reflecting both its restricted range and limited collection. It grows in moist, broad-leaved evergreen and mixed montane forest, often as an epiphyte or hemiepiphyte on tree trunks and mossy rocks, or as a free-standing shrub, in the warm-temperate zone. The plant photographed at Chaana in West Bengal at 1750 m in May occupied this humid mid-elevation forest belt, where high atmospheric moisture and shade favour its establishment.

It is a glabrous shrub or small tree, sometimes epiphytic, with stout greyish branchlets. The leaves are alternate and palmately compound, the long petiole bearing a whorl of several leaflets; the leaflets are elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, leathery, entire, acuminate at the apex and cuneate at the base, with prominent lateral venation and a sheathing petiole base. The inflorescence is a large terminal panicle of umbels; the small flowers are greenish to creamy, with five petals, five stamens and an inferior ovary crowned by a low stylar disc. The fruit is a small subglobose drupe, ribbed when dry and containing several pyrenes.

GBIF lists the name as a synonym while retaining Heptapleurum griffithii as accepted; the species was long placed in Schefflera, and the recircumscription of that polyphyletic genus has returned many Asian species to Heptapleurum. As a forest-canopy and epiphytic component it contributes to structural diversity, its fleshy drupes dispersed by birds. Given its narrow documented range, intact mid-montane forest is important to its persistence.

Author: (Seem.) ined. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, A Generic Revision of Araliaceae (Schefflera and allies)

Araliaceae

Heptapleurum rhododendrifolium 

by G & P Jürgens

(Griff.) G.M.Plunkett & Lowry

Sikkim 2006 482 ergebnis
India Sikkim, Ringi Chu 1900m, May
Sikkim 2006 310 ergebnis
India Sikkim, Ringi Chu 1900m, May

Description

Heptapleurum rhododendrifolium is an epiphytic to semi-epiphytic shrub distributed across the eastern Himalayas and into Southeast Asia, with records from Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, northeast India, Myanmar, southern China, and extending to Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. GBIF documents 136 occurrences across this broad range. The species inhabits subtropical and warm-temperate evergreen forests at elevations of 1,200–2,500 m, where it typically grows as an epiphyte on mossy tree trunks and branches, or occasionally as a terrestrial shrub on steep, humus-rich banks in areas of persistent cloud immersion and high rainfall.
Heptapleurum rhododendrifolium is an evergreen shrub, 1–4 m tall, with stout, sparsely branched stems. The leaves are digitately compound, clustered near the branch tips, with 5–9 coriaceous leaflets. Leaflets are oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, 8–20 cm long, glossy dark green above and often pale or ferruginous-tomentose beneath, with entire margins and a prominent midrib — the overall appearance recalling Rhododendron foliage, hence the epithet. Petioles are stout, 10–20 cm long. The inflorescence is a terminal, compound umbel of numerous small, greenish-white flowers, each 3–4 mm across, with 5–7 petals and an equal number of stamens. The ovary is inferior, 5–7-locular. The fruit is a subglobose drupe, 4–6 mm in diameter, ripening to dark purple or black, with persistent style remnants.
This species was long placed in Schefflera sensu lato, but recent molecular phylogenetic studies by Plunkett and Lowry have led to its transfer to the reinstated genus Heptapleurum, which accommodates the Asian and Pacific clade formerly within Schefflera. The photographed specimen from Ringi Chu in Sikkim at 1,900 m represents a typical mid-elevation epiphytic occurrence in one of the wettest valleys of the eastern Himalayas. The species plays an ecological role as a provider of fruit resources for montane bird communities. Its broad distribution from the Himalayas to the Pacific islands reflects an ancient tropical Asian lineage with considerable dispersal capacity.

Author: (Griff.) G.M.Plunkett & Lowry · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Plunkett & Lowry (2018) — Phylogenetics of Araliaceae

Araliaceae

Hydrocotyle javanica

by G & P Jürgens

Thunb.

Bhutan2015 150
Bhutan Zhemgang 900m, October

Description

Hydrocotyle javanica is a widespread perennial herb of tropical and subtropical Asia and the western Pacific, recorded from the Himalaya (Nepal, NE India, Bhutan) through southern China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indochina, Malesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia and Fiji; with 2,061 GBIF occurrences it is among the better-documented members of its genus. It favours moist, shaded ground along streams, forest floors, seepage banks and damp roadside verges. The Bhutan record from Zhemgang at about 900 m in October places it in warm, humid subtropical forest, where it grows as a creeping ground cover.

It is a creeping to ascending herb rooting at the nodes, with slender, often pilose stems. The leaves are alternate, long-petioled, orbicular to reniform in outline, 2–7 cm wide, palmately 5–7-lobed with the lobes again toothed, cordate at the base, and frequently bearing scattered hairs. The inflorescences are condensed simple umbels, sometimes verticillate along the stem, on peduncles shorter than the petioles; the minute flowers are whitish to greenish, with five petals and an inferior bicarpellate ovary. The fruit is a small, laterally compressed schizocarp, broader than long, the mericarps with conspicuous lateral ribs.

Long placed in Apiaceae, Hydrocotyle is now segregated into Araliaceae (Hydrocotyloideae) on molecular grounds, so the input family is botanically defensible. GBIF lists the name as accepted. The species is highly variable across its enormous range, and several infraspecific taxa have been described; it is common, weedy and of no conservation concern.

Author: Thunb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 14, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Pimenov & Leonov: The Genera of the Umbelliferae (1993)

Araliaceae

Panax bipinnatifidus

by G & P Jürgens

Seem.

Sikkim 2006 316 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1800m, May

Description

Panax bipinnatifidus is a Sino-Himalayan ginseng distributed through the eastern Himalaya and adjacent uplands of mainland Asia, with GBIF documenting some 900 occurrences across India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. It is a herb of shaded, humus-rich temperate broad-leaved and conifer forests, growing among leaf litter on cool, moist slopes and in mossy understorey, generally between about 1800 and 3500 m. The photographed plant from Chaana in West Bengal, India, at roughly 1800 m and flowering in May, sits at the lower edge of this altitudinal band, typical of its occurrence beneath dense Himalayan forest canopy where it relies on consistent shade and well-drained organic soils.

It is a glabrous perennial herb arising from a stout, often moniliform (beaded) or fusiform fleshy rhizome that creeps horizontally. The single erect aerial stem bears a terminal whorl of (usually three to five) long-petiolate, palmately compound leaves, the leaflets characteristically deeply bipinnatifid or pinnately divided with the laminae much dissected, a feature that distinguishes the species and gives it its epithet. From the centre of the leaf whorl rises a slender peduncle terminating in a solitary, simple umbel of small greenish-white, pentamerous, mostly bisexual flowers with an inferior two-celled ovary and two styles. The fruit is a small, laterally compressed, red drupe that turns red at maturity, often with a black apical spot.

The genus Panax, the true ginsengs, is taxonomically complex in the Himalaya, where P. bipinnatifidus has historically been confused with P. pseudoginseng and treated under several varieties (var. bipinnatifidus, var. angustifolius) and synonyms; molecular and morphological work has helped clarify the dissected-leaved entity. Like its congeners it accumulates triterpenoid ginsenosides in the rhizome and is harvested as a substitute for ginseng across the Himalaya, which together with habitat loss exposes wild populations to over-collection. The species is consequently of growing conservation concern and is regarded as threatened or vulnerable in parts of its range, prompting interest in cultivation and sustainable management.

Author: Seem. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Wen's monograph of Panax (Araliaceae)

Araliaceae

Panax pseudoginseng

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bhutan2012 27
Bhutan Shele-La, 3500m September

Description

Panax pseudoginseng is a rhizomatous perennial herb of the eastern Himalaya and Sino-Himalayan region, distributed across Nepal, India, Bhutan, China and Myanmar; its c. 255 georeferenced records define a temperate to subalpine forest range (records from Japan, North America, Russia and Europe largely reflect cultivation and study collections). It grows in shaded, humus-rich understorey of broadleaf and mixed forest, on mossy banks and in damp ravines, typically between 2500 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Shele-La in Bhutan at 3500 m in September grows in the cool, moist upper-temperate to subalpine forest where the genus reaches its Himalayan optimum.

It is a slender erect herb 30-70 cm tall arising from a knotted, often elongate fleshy rhizome bearing prominent stem scars. A single whorl of palmately compound leaves crowns the stem, each leaf with three to five serrate, obovate to oblong leaflets, the terminal ones largest. From the centre rises a long peduncle bearing a solitary terminal umbel of small greenish flowers, each with five petals, five stamens and an inferior two-carpellate ovary with two recurved styles. The fruit is a small, fleshy red drupe, sometimes black-tipped, containing two flattened seeds.

Described by Wallich (as Wall.), P. pseudoginseng is the Himalayan representative of Panax, the ginseng genus of the Araliaceae, and a close relative of the medicinally renowned P. ginseng and P. notoginseng. Its rhizome contains ginsenosides and is harvested in traditional Himalayan and Chinese medicine, exposing wild populations to over-collection. The brightly coloured drupes are bird-dispersed. Because of its slow growth, narrow forest habitat and medicinal value, the species is regarded as conservation-sensitive and locally depleted by harvesting.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Wen's revision of Panax (Araliaceae)

Araliaceae

Trevesia palmata

by GP Jürgens

(Roxb. ex Lindl.) Vis.

Bhutan2015 591
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1900m, October
Sikkim 2006 308 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1750m, May

Description

Trevesia palmata, the snowflake tree, is a tropical and subtropical Asian aralioid ranging from the Himalaya of Nepal, India and Bhutan through Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, southern China and into Malaysia, with more than 700 GBIF occurrences including many from cultivation in botanic gardens worldwide. It grows in warm, humid broadleaved forest, in ravines, along streams, on shaded slopes and in clearings on moist, fertile soils. The localities illustrated, the Mo Chu valley in Bhutan at about 1900 m in October and Chaana in West Bengal at 1750 m in May, are typical of its lower-montane belt of roughly 500-2000 m in the eastern Himalaya.

It is a small, sparsely branched evergreen tree or treelet, often prickly on the trunk and petioles, with a stout pithy stem. The very large leaves are palmately lobed and again deeply incised, so that each is divided almost to the centre into spreading, toothed segments arranged like a snowflake, borne on long prickly petioles and clustered toward the stem apex. The numerous small flowers are creamy to greenish-white and grouped in dense globose umbels arranged along a large, branched terminal panicle. Each flower has a fleshy disc and an inferior ovary of several carpels, and the fruit is a small, somewhat ribbed, fleshy drupe containing several seeds.

Trevesia is a small genus of the ivy family centred on tropical Asia, and T. palmata is its most familiar and widespread species. The dramatically dissected juvenile foliage makes it a popular ornamental and conservatory plant, which explains the many cultivated records far outside its native range. In its forest habitat it is an understorey to mid-canopy element pollinated by insects, and its fruits are dispersed by birds and other animals.

Author: (Roxb. ex Lindl.) Vis. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Frodin & Govaerts World Checklist of Araliaceae, Hooker Flora of British India