Gentianaceae

Gentianaceae

Swertia angustifolia

Gentianaceae

Swertia purpurascens

Gentianaceae

Swertia rotundiglandula

Gentianaceae

Gentiana capitata

Gentianaceae

Gentianaceae

Lomatogonium carinthiacum 

by G & P Jürgens

(Wulfen) A.Braun

Garw 2005 135 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Kuari-Pass 3600m, September

Description

Lomatogonium carinthiacum is a small alpine gentian with an exceptionally broad Eurasian distribution, reaching from the European Alps eastward through the Caucasus, central Asia and the Himalaya to the Tibetan Plateau and Mongolia; GBIF records (over 2600) span Austria, Switzerland, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Nepal and many other countries. It grows in alpine and subalpine meadows, damp turf, stream banks and open grassy slopes, generally between about 2500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant from the Kuari Pass in Garhwal, India (3600 m, September), is typical of the species flowering in late summer in moist alpine grassland.

The plant is a small annual or short-lived herb with an erect, often branched, somewhat quadrangular stem and opposite, sessile, ovate to lanceolate leaves. The flowers are solitary or few in lax cymes, with a rotate, deeply five-lobed corolla coloured pale blue to bluish-violet, often with darker veining; the lobes lack the plicate folds and basal fringed scales of Swertia and Gentiana. Diagnostically for the genus, the nectaries take the form of paired, scale-fringed grooves at the base of each corolla lobe. The five stamens alternate with the lobes, and the ovary is unilocular, maturing into a many-seeded capsule with the persistent styles forming decurrent ridges (the basis of the generic name).

Lomatogonium (tribe Swertieae) is closely allied to Swertia, from which it is separated chiefly by its decurrent stigmatic lines running down the ovary and by the form of its nectaries. The genus is centred on the Sino-Himalayan region, with L. carinthiacum being by far its most widespread member and a classic example of a circum-boreal/alpine disjunct distribution. It is common across much of its range and is not of conservation concern.

Author: (Wulfen) A.Braun · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Gentianaceae), Flora Europaea, Flora of Pakistan, A revision of Lomatogonium (Gentianaceae)

Gentianaceae

Lomatogonium sikkimense

by G & P Jürgens

(Burkill) Harry Sm.

Bhutan2015 666
Bhutan Chele-La 4000m, October
Bhutan2015 682
Bhutan Chele-La 4000m, October
Bhutan2015 685
Bhutan Chele-La 4000m, October

Description

Lomatogonium sikkimense is a high-alpine gentian relative restricted to the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Tibet, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, with about 74 occurrences in GBIF. It grows in the alpine zone on open turf, moist meadows, streamsides and gravelly slopes, characteristically between about 3500 and 4500 m, flowering late as the monsoon ends. The plants photographed at the Chele-La in Bhutan at around 4000 m in October exemplify this habitat, where the species blooms among short alpine vegetation just before the onset of winter.

It is a slender annual or short-lived herb with erect or ascending, often branched stems bearing opposite, sessile, narrowly lanceolate to linear leaves. The flowers, borne singly or in a few-flowered cyme, are rotate and deeply five-lobed, the blue to violet-blue corolla lobes acute and often delicately veined; characteristically for the genus, each lobe bears a pair of fringed nectary scales at its base, distinguishing Lomatogonium from the closely related Swertia and Gentianella. The five stamens alternate with the lobes, and the superior ovary develops into a many-seeded capsule.

Lomatogonium is a small Eurasian genus of high mountains and is centred on the Sino-Himalayan and Tibetan flora, with L. sikkimense among its narrowly distributed eastern Himalayan members, as its epithet referencing Sikkim records. The fringed paired nectaries and rotate corolla are key diagnostic features separating it from allied swertioid gentians. No formal conservation assessment exists; the species appears locally frequent within its restricted alpine range, though such narrowly zoned high-altitude annuals are potentially vulnerable to climate-driven shifts in alpine meadow vegetation.

Author: (Burkill) Harry Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Ho & Liu Worldwide Monograph of Swertia and its Allies

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

Gentianaceae

Swertia bimaculata

by GP Jürgens

(Siebold & Zucc.) Hook. f. & Thomson ex C.B. Clarke

Bhutan2012 354
Bhutan Doch-La, 3000m September
Bhutan2012 355
Bhutan Doch-La, 3000m September
Bh2008 65 P106
Bhutan Punaka-Chu, 1600m April

Description

Swertia bimaculata is a widely distributed Asian gentian recorded by GBIF in nearly 3,942 occurrences spanning China, Japan, Korea, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, making it one of the most far-ranging members of its genus. It occupies forest margins, grassy slopes, meadows and streamsides over a broad altitudinal span from lowland valleys to the subalpine zone. The Bhutanese collections illustrated, one from the Dochu La at 3000 m flowering in September and another from the Punakha Chu at 1600 m in April, demonstrate both its wide elevational tolerance and a flowering season extended by the diversity of habitats it occupies.

The species is a tall, erect annual or biennial herb with an angular, often branched stem arising from a slender taproot. The leaves are opposite, sessile to short-petiolate and broadly elliptic to lanceolate, with prominent arcuate veins. Flowers are numerous in a large, lax terminal panicle; the corolla is rotate and deeply four- to five-lobed, the lobes pale greenish-white to yellowish and finely dotted or streaked with purple. Each lobe bears two conspicuous dark glandular nectaries—the paired "two spots" of the epithet bimaculata—fringed with long fimbriae. The superior ovary develops into a narrowly ovoid septicidal capsule releasing many small seeds.

Swertia is a taxonomically complex, pharmacologically notable genus whose bitter secoiridoid-rich species are widely used in traditional Asian medicine, and S. bimaculata is among those harvested for such purposes. The fringed nectary glands and spotted corolla attract bees and flies that effect cross-pollination. Despite its medicinal exploitation the species remains common and ecologically plastic across its enormous range and is not regarded as threatened.

Author: (Siebold & Zucc.) Hook. f. & Thomson ex C.B. Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Japan, Revision of the Genus Swertia (Hara)

Gentianaceae

Swertia cordata

by GP Jürgens

(G. Don) Wall. ex. C.B. Clarke

Bhutan2015 464
Bhutan Trongsa 2100m, October
Garw 2005 276 ergebnis
India Garhwal Kunol 2600m, September

Description

Swertia cordata is a Himalayan gentian relative ranging along the entire arc from Afghanistan and Pakistan through India, Nepal, Bhutan and into south-western China and Myanmar, documented by some 332 GBIF records. It favours moist, shaded banks, grassy forest clearings, stream margins and humid open slopes within the temperate zone, broadly between 1800 and 3000 m. The material illustrated from Trongsa in central Bhutan at 2100 m in October and from Kunol in the Garhwal Himalaya at 2600 m in September reflects its late-season flowering, when the post-monsoon humidity sustains the soft foliage of this short-lived herb.

It is an erect annual or biennial with a slender, quadrangular and often branched stem. The basal and lower cauline leaves are conspicuously cordate at the base and shortly petiolate, while the upper leaves become sessile and amplexicaul; all are thin, ovate and prominently veined. The flowers are borne in lax terminal and axillary cymose panicles, the corolla typically four-merged, rotate and pale blue to lilac with darker veining, each lobe bearing the nectary pits or foveae diagnostic of Swertia, fringed by scale-like appendages. The fruit is a septicidal capsule containing numerous small seeds.

Swertia is a large, taxonomically demanding genus widely exploited in Himalayan ethnomedicine for its bitter secoiridoid glycosides, and S. cordata shares this chemistry. The basal foveae govern a specialised pollination relationship in which nectar is hidden beneath protective fringes. The species is not regarded as threatened given its wide distribution, but collection for medicinal use and habitat loss along forest margins warrant monitoring of accessible populations.

Author: (G. Don) Wall. ex. C.B. Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Gentianaceae), Revision of the genus Swertia

Gentianaceae

Swertia cuneata

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Bhutan2012 299
Bhutan Shale-La, 4300m September

Description

Swertia cuneata is a Himalayan gentian relative distributed from Pakistan through India, Nepal, China and Bhutan, with around 157 GBIF records. It is a plant of the alpine and upper subalpine zone, growing in open meadows, turfy slopes, rocky pastures and streamsides, broadly between about 3500 and 4500 m. The gathering from the Shale-La in Bhutan at 4300 m in September documents its late-summer flowering, when these high passes carry a colourful display of gentians, swertias and other alpine herbs at the close of the monsoon.

It is an erect annual or short-lived perennial herb with a simple or branched, often four-angled stem. The leaves are opposite, sessile, oblong to lanceolate and cuneate (wedge-shaped) at the base, the feature recalled by the epithet "cuneata". The flowers are borne in terminal and axillary cymes forming a loose panicle; each is rotate and four- or five-merous, with spreading lobes that are pale blue to purplish or yellowish and conspicuously veined or spotted, and bearing the nectary glands (nectaries fringed with fimbriae) on the corolla lobes that are diagnostic of Swertia. The fruit is a septicidal capsule containing numerous small seeds.

Swertia belongs to tribe Gentianeae and is well diversified in the Sino-Himalayan alpine flora, distinguished from Gentiana by its deeply divided, wheel-shaped corollas with open nectar glands rather than a tubular flower. Several species are important in Himalayan traditional medicine (the "chiretta" group), and although S. cuneata itself is widespread and not of conservation concern, harvesting pressure affects related taxa. Pollination is by generalist insects attracted to the exposed nectaries.

Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Swertia revision (Clarke / Ho & Liu)

Gentianaceae

Swertia hookeri

by GP Jürgens

C.B. Clarke

Sikkim2003 447 P620
Sikkim Chopta Valley 3800m August
Sikkim2003 448 K620.2
Sikkim Chopta Valley 3800m August

Description

Swertia hookeri is an eastern Himalayan gentian of comparatively restricted range, recorded from India (chiefly Sikkim and Darjeeling), Nepal, Bhutan and the bordering provinces of southern China, GBIF holding around 63 occurrences consistent with a regional endemic. It inhabits moist alpine and upper subalpine zones, growing on open grassy slopes, among shrubberies, on rock ledges and along stream margins where snowmelt maintains high soil moisture. The plant photographed in August in the Chopta Valley of Sikkim at about 3800 m is typical of its elevation band, flowering at the height of the monsoon when the alpine turf is lush and humid.

It is a robust perennial or biennial herb with a stout, erect, often purple-tinged stem arising from a thick rootstock. The leaves are largely basal, broadly elliptic to ovate, conspicuously several-nerved and narrowed to a sheathing base, the cauline leaves becoming smaller and sessile upward. The inflorescence is a leafy branched panicle of large, broadly campanulate flowers; the corolla is usually 4- or 5-merous, pale greenish-yellow to whitish and densely veined with purplish-blue reticulation, each lobe bearing a pair of fimbriate nectary pits at the base. Stamens alternate with the lobes, and the superior ovary develops into a septicidal capsule with numerous small seeds.

Described by C. B. Clarke, Swertia hookeri belongs to a large, taxonomically intricate genus centred on the Sino-Himalayan region, forming part of a species swarm noted for diagnostic nectary morphology. Like many congeners it is rich in bitter secoiridoid and xanthone compounds and is gathered locally for medicinal and febrifugal use. Its dependence on intact high-altitude grassland renders it potentially sensitive to grazing pressure and climate-driven treeline shifts, though it has not been formally evaluated.

Author: C.B. Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Hara Flora of Eastern Himalaya, Clarke revision of Swertia

Gentianaceae

Swertia macrosperma

by GP Jürgens

(C.B. Clarke) C.B. Clarke

Bhutan2015 31
Bhutan Thimphu 2300m, October
Bhutan2012 321
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3100m September
Bhutan2012 322
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3100m September

Description

Swertia macrosperma is a widespread gentian-family herb of Asia, exceptionally well represented in GBIF with about 1613 occurrences spanning Taiwan, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Japan and beyond. It is a plant of open, moist montane settings, growing on grassy slopes, forest margins, clearings, banks and damp meadows in the temperate to lower subalpine belt. The material photographed in Bhutan, at Thimphu around 2300 m in October and at the Dochu-La pass near 3100 m in September, illustrates its autumn flowering season, when these post-monsoon slopes carry the late display typical of many Himalayan swertias.

It is an erect annual to biennial herb with slender, often quadrangular and branched stems arising from a basal rosette of leaves. The cauline leaves are opposite, sessile to shortly petiolate and ovate to lanceolate. The flowers are borne in lax terminal and axillary cymes forming a diffuse panicle; each is usually four- or five-merous with a rotate, deeply parted corolla that is whitish, pale greenish or tinged with purple and frequently spotted, and each corolla lobe bears one or two fringed nectary glands (foveolae) diagnostic of the genus. The fruit is a septicidal capsule that, as the epithet indicates, releases comparatively large seeds.

Swertia is a large genus of tribe Swertieae, distinguished from Gentiana by its rotate, deeply divided corolla and conspicuous nectary pits. Several species, including this one, are gathered for traditional medicine on account of their bitter secoiridoid compounds. As an abundant and ecologically tolerant species across a vast range, S. macrosperma is of no conservation concern, though localised harvesting pressure on bitter Swertia species is documented elsewhere in the genus.

Author: (C.B. Clarke) C.B. Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Ho & Pringle Gentianaceae revision

Gentianaceae

Swertia multicaulis

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Sikkim2003 301 G422
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4250m August

Description

Swertia multicaulis is a high-alpine Himalayan gentian distributed through Nepal, China, India, Bhutan and recorded marginally from Kazakhstan, with GBIF holding around 144 occurrences along the main Himalayan chain. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, growing on damp, peaty or gravelly meadows, moist rock ledges, seepage slopes and the margins of glacial lakes and snowbeds. The specimen from Saniti Lake in Sikkim at about 4250 m in August typifies its preference for cold, moisture-saturated high-altitude turf, where it flowers late in the short growing season as the monsoon wanes and snowmelt keeps the substrate constantly wet.

As its epithet indicates, it is a low perennial herb producing several stems from a stout, often branched rootstock crowned by a rosette of leaves. The basal leaves are obovate to spathulate, entire and narrowed to a petiolar base, forming a compact tuft, while the few stem leaves are small and sessile. The flowers are borne singly or in few-flowered clusters and are typically 4- or 5-merous; the corolla is rotate and deep blue-purple to violet, the lobes ovate-lanceolate and each furnished at the base with one or two fringed nectary scales characteristic of the genus. The stamens alternate with the corolla lobes, and the superior ovary ripens into a many-seeded capsule.

Described by D. Don, Swertia multicaulis is part of the speciose, taxonomically complex Sino-Himalayan radiation of the genus, where species are separated largely by nectary structure, corolla colour and habit. Its cushion-forming, multi-stemmed growth is an adaptation to wind-swept, frost-prone high-alpine conditions. The plant accumulates bitter secoiridoids and xanthones and, like other swertias, has a reputation in local folk medicine. Restricted to intact high-elevation wetland and meadow habitats, it may be vulnerable to grazing and to upward habitat compression under a warming climate.

Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Hara Enumeration of Flowering Plants of Nepal, Clarke revision of Swertia

Gentianaceae

Swertia nervosa

by GP Jürgens

(G.Don) Wall. ex. C.B.Clarke

Garw 2005 242 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Bora 2200m, September

Description

Swertia nervosa is an annual gentian-relative widely distributed across the Himalaya and montane Southeast Asia, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Taiwan, with around 331 occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of moist open slopes, grassy banks, forest clearings, streamsides and disturbed ground in the subtropical to lower temperate belt, typically between 1500 and 2800 m. The photograph from Bora in Garhwal, India, at about 2200 m in September shows it in flower at the close of the monsoon, the period when the genus reaches its peak of flowering across the mid-elevation Himalaya.

The plant is an erect annual herb with an angular, often four-winged or ridged stem branching in the upper part. The leaves are opposite, sessile, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate and conspicuously several-nerved, the prominent venation reflected in the epithet nervosa. The numerous small flowers are borne in a lax, much-branched terminal panicle; they are usually four-merous with a deeply parted, pale yellowish to greenish corolla often marked with purplish veins, and each lobe bears a fringed nectary gland at its base, a diagnostic feature of Swertia. The fruit is an ovoid bivalved capsule containing many minute seeds.

Swertia is a large genus of the Gentianaceae centred on the Sino-Himalayan region, distinguished by the nectariferous glands (foveae) on the corolla lobes; S. nervosa belongs to the annual, paniculate-flowered group sometimes segregated under Ophelia. Like several relatives it is rich in bitter secoiridoid compounds and is used in traditional medicine as a substitute for the famed chiretta (S. chirayita). Common, weedy and broadly distributed, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: (G.Don) Wall. ex. C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Clarke's treatment of Gentianaceae in Flora of British India