Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae

Aconitum hookeri

Ranunculaceae

Aconitum heterophylloides

Ranunculaceae

Aconitum lethale

Ranunculaceae

Aconitum nakaoi

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae

Clematis graveolens 

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 99 978 ergebnis
West-Nepal Dunai 2150m, July

Description

Clematis graveolens Lindl. is a Sino-Himalayan climber of the western and central Himalaya and adjacent Central Asia, with records from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and China; the GBIF dataset of 236 occurrences also reflects scattered cultivated material in Europe and North America. It occupies dry, open hillsides, rocky slopes, scrub margins and stony riverbanks in the temperate and subalpine belt, broadly between 1500 and 3500 m. The photographed plant near Dunai in West Nepal at about 2150 m, flowering in July, typifies its preference for warm, well-drained, sun-baked terrain in the monsoon-sheltered inner valleys.

The species is a woody-based, scrambling perennial climbing by means of twining, sensitive petioles. The leaves are opposite and pinnately to bipinnately compound, the segments narrowly lanceolate to linear, often pinnatifid, glaucous and somewhat fleshy, emitting a strong foetid odour when bruised that gives the plant its epithet. Flowers are solitary or in few-flowered cymes, nodding and broadly campanulate; the four spreading to recurved tepals are yellow to greenish-yellow, thinly tomentose without and glabrescent within. Numerous stamens surround the pubescent carpels. The fruit is a head of compressed achenes, each bearing a long, persistent, plumose style forming the characteristic feathery awn.

Within Clematis the species belongs to section Meclatis (the yellow-flowered, Atragene-allied group typified by C. orientalis and C. tibetana), distinguished by its campanulate yellow flowers and divided, malodorous foliage. It is a hardy xerophyte adapted to the continental, low-rainfall pockets of the western Himalaya, and is used locally in folk medicine as a counter-irritant. Widespread and frequent in disturbed scrub, it is of no conservation concern and has occasionally entered horticulture as a drought-tolerant ornamental.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Magnus Johnson — The Genus Clematis

Ranunculaceae

Clematis montana

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex DC.

Bhutan2014 36
Bhutan Sandrup 1000m, May
Bhutan2014 971
Bhutan Chele-La 3400m, May
Nepal 1994 66 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Jaljale Himal 2400m, April

Description

Clematis montana is a widespread Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan climber ranging from Pakistan and Kashmir eastward through Nepal, Bhutan and northern India into central and southwestern China and Myanmar. Reflecting its long history in horticulture, GBIF records exceed 6300 and include numerous cultivated and naturalised occurrences in Britain, continental Europe, North America, New Zealand and Australia alongside its native Asian range. In the wild it grows over an exceptionally broad elevational span, scrambling through forest margins, scrub, hedgerows and over rock from warm temperate valleys to high subalpine slopes. The Bhutanese material imaged at Sandrup (1000 m) and Chele La (3400 m) and the East Nepal population on the Jaljale Himal (2400 m), all flowering April to May, illustrate its vernal, pre-monsoon blooming across this range.

It is a vigorous woody climber with slender, ridged, eventually brown stems and clambering by twining petioles. The leaves are opposite and ternate, the three leaflets ovate to lanceolate, irregularly toothed or lobed and often softly hairy. Flowers are borne singly or in fascicles from the axils of the previous year's growth, each large and showy with four (occasionally more) spreading, petaloid sepals that are white to pink and frequently fragrant; true petals are absent. The numerous stamens have yellow anthers. The fruit is an aggregate of achenes, each tipped by a long, persistent, plumose silky style aiding wind dispersal.

Within Clematis the species belongs to sect. Montanae of spring-flowering, ternate-leaved climbers, and is morphologically variable, with several named varieties and many garden cultivars selected for flower colour and size. It is an early-season nectar source and a robust coloniser of disturbed and edge habitats. It is common and not of conservation concern; its naturalisation beyond Asia underscores its competitive vigour and broad climatic tolerance.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grey-Wilson's Clematis the Genus (monograph)

Ranunculaceae

Clematis napaulensis

by GP Jürgens

DC.

Bhutan2012 680
Bhutan Galephu 950m, September
Bhutan2012 681
Bhutan Galephu 950m, September

Description

Clematis napaulensis is a vigorous woody climber of the Himalaya and southwestern China, recorded by GBIF in some 197 occurrences from Nepal, China, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with scattered cultivated or naturalised records in Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, South Africa and New Zealand. It scrambles through forest margins, thickets, hedgerows and riverine scrub in the warm-temperate and subtropical belt, broadly between 900 and 2500 m. The photographed plant is from Bhutan at Galephu at 950 m in September, at the low, warm end of its range, where it begins its unusual winter flowering season as growth resumes after the monsoon.

The plant is a deciduous to semi-evergreen liana climbing by twining petioles. The leaves are opposite and pinnate, with ovate to lanceolate, entire or toothed leaflets. Distinctively, the species flowers in autumn and winter, bearing pendulous, axillary clusters of bell-shaped flowers; the four creamy to greenish-white sepals form a narrow campanulate bloom and curve back at the tips, while the numerous stamens have conspicuous reddish-purple filaments that protrude from the mouth. The fruit is a head of achenes each tipped with a long, silky, plumose style that aids wind dispersal.

Clematis (Ranunculaceae, tribe Anemoneae) lacks petals, its showy perianth being sepaline; C. napaulensis belongs to a group of winter-flowering Asian species valued in horticulture for blooming when little else is in flower. GBIF treats the name as accepted, the orthography napaulensis referring to Nepal. Widespread and adaptable across the southern Himalaya, it is of least concern and is cultivated internationally as an ornamental climber.

Author: DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grey-Wilson monograph of Clematis

Ranunculaceae

Clematis phlebantha 

by G & P Jürgens

L.H.J.Williams

Nepal 99 708 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Pungmo 3400m, July
Nepal 99 707 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Pungmo 3400m, July

Description

Clematis phlebantha L.H.J.Williams is a rare Himalayan endemic restricted to western Nepal, where GBIF records only 46 occurrences (the additional Netherlands record reflecting cultivated or herbarium material). It is a plant of dry, rocky, sun-exposed slopes and arid river gorges in the rain-shadowed valleys of the trans-Himalaya, growing at around 3000 to 3600 m. The plant photographed at Pungmo in West Nepal, at about 3400 m in July, exemplifies its association with the semi-arid inner valleys of the Dolpo region, where it scrambles over rock and shrubs in a markedly dry montane climate.

The species is a sprawling, woody-based climber or sub-shrub with silvery, silky-hairy stems and foliage that lend the plant a distinctive pale, felted appearance. The leaves are pinnate, with several segments that are densely silky beneath, an adaptation to its arid, high-light habitat. The flowers are solitary or few, borne on long pedicels, with no true petals; the showy floral parts are the four to six spreading, creamy-white to pale tepals, conspicuously marked with prominent purplish or reddish veins (phlebantha referring to this vein pattern). The fruit is an aggregate of achenes, each bearing a long, persistent, plumose style that aids wind dispersal.

First described from western Nepal, C. phlebantha is celebrated among horticulturists, having been introduced to cultivation following its discovery, and is valued for its silvery foliage and veined flowers. Its strict endemism and limited known range make it a species of notable biogeographic and conservation interest, characteristic of the specialised flora of the dry inner Himalayan valleys. Its narrow distribution warrants monitoring, as such restricted-range endemics are inherently vulnerable to habitat change.

Author: L.H.J.Williams · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Grey-Wilson monograph of Clematis, Stainton Flowers of the Himalaya

Ranunculaceae

Clematis roylei

by G & P Jürgens

Rehder

Nepal 99 469 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3200m, June

Description

Clematis roylei is a Himalayan climber of the buttercup family, with about 66 GBIF occurrences recorded from India and Nepal. It is a plant of moist temperate forest and the shrubby ecotones between forest and open slope, scrambling over shrubs, herbaceous vegetation and embankments in cool, humid montane settings. The material photographed at Churta-Khola in West Nepal at about 3200 m in June was recorded at the start of the monsoon, when the temperate forest zone is flushed with new growth and these herbaceous climbers come into flower. The species occupies a broadly montane band along the central and western Himalaya.

It is a slender, somewhat woody-based herbaceous to subscandent climber whose petioles and rachises twine to provide support, the leaves being opposite and compound, typically pinnate to ternate with toothed or lobed, acuminate leaflets. The nodding, campanulate flowers lack true petals; the floral envelope consists of four (occasionally more) connivent sepals that are commonly bluish, purple, violet or dull yellow and frequently softly hairy on the margins and outer surface. The numerous stamens surround a cluster of carpels which, in fruit, develop into the characteristic achenes each tipped by a long, persistent, plumose feathery style that aids wind dispersal.

Clematis is a large, cosmopolitan genus, and roylei belongs to the nodding-flowered Himalayan assemblage allied to the C. connata group, with which it has often been associated taxonomically. These climbers contribute to the structural complexity of forest margins and provide nectar to montane pollinators. The species is locally distributed but not formally evaluated; its persistence is tied to the maintenance of intact mid-montane forest and shrubland habitats.

Author: Rehder · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Hooker Flora of British India, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Tamura Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae

Clematis tibetana var. vernayi 

by G & P Jürgens

(C.E.C.Fisch.) Grey-Wilson

Nepal 99 712 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Bauli-Khola 3500m, July
Nepal 99 713 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Bauli-Khola 3500m, July
Nepal 99 714 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Bauli-Khola 3500m, July

Description

Clematis tibetana var. vernayi is a Himalayan and Tibetan climber recorded principally from China and Nepal among its roughly 289 occurrences, the records from New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada reflecting its popularity in horticulture rather than a natural range, since this is the celebrated nodding yellow-flowered clematis widely cultivated in temperate gardens. In the wild it inhabits open subalpine and alpine slopes, scrub, rocky banks and dry valley sides, often scrambling over shrubs and boulders in well-drained, sunny situations. The photographed plant from the Bauli-Khola in West Nepal, at about 3500 m and flowering in July, is typical of its high-montane occurrence in the inner, drier Himalayan valleys.

It is a woody-based, semi-scandent perennial climbing by twining petioles, with deeply divided, pinnately compound leaves whose narrow leaflets are often lobed, toothed and somewhat glaucous, an adaptation to the dry, exposed habitat. The flowers are solitary, nodding and broadly campanulate to lantern-shaped, lacking true petals; the showy structures are four thick, leathery sepals coloured deep yellow, frequently flushed purple-brown outside, surrounding numerous stamens. The fruit is a head of achenes each bearing a long, conspicuously plumose persistent style, forming the silvery feathery seed-heads characteristic of the genus and aiding wind dispersal.

Clematis section Meclatis, the yellow-flowered Asian group to which this taxon belongs, has been studied in detail by Grey-Wilson, who recombined the variety; the thick-sepalled, glaucous, dry-habitat forms of the C. tibetana complex have long been valued by gardeners as the orange-peel clematis for their unusually substantial sepals. Ecologically the plumed achenes exploit wind for dispersal across open terrain. Widespread in the wild and abundant in cultivation, the variety is of no conservation concern, and its garden derivatives remain among the most familiar Himalayan contributions to ornamental horticulture.

Author: (C.E.C.Fisch.) Grey-Wilson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grey-Wilson's monograph Clematis the Genus

Ranunculaceae

Clematis tongluensis

by G & P Jürgens

(Bruehl) Tamura

BhutanPG2011 157 5
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3550m June

Description

Clematis tongluensis is a Himalayan climber recorded from Nepal, Bhutan, India, China and Myanmar, with additional cultivated or vouchered material noted from Canada; GBIF holds around 58 occurrences. It is a plant of temperate to subalpine forest, scrambling through shrubberies, over forest-edge thickets and along open slopes, generally between about 2700 and 3700 m. It was photographed at Tsochenchen in Bhutan at 3550 m in June, where it climbs through rhododendron and conifer woodland margins, flowering at the onset of the summer monsoon.

The species is a woody to semi-woody climber with ribbed, somewhat pubescent stems that twine and clamber by means of the petioles. The leaves are ternate to pinnate, the leaflets ovate to lanceolate, acuminate and serrate, often thinly hairy. The flowers, borne singly or in few-flowered cymes, are nodding and broadly campanulate, lacking true petals; the four (rarely more) thick, spreading to recurved sepals are usually creamy-white to pale yellow, sometimes flushed purplish, with tomentose margins. Numerous stamens surround the carpels, and the fruit is a head of achenes each bearing a long, plumose persistent style.

Clematis tongluensis sits within the bell-flowered Sino-Himalayan groups of the genus, allied to the Montanae and related sections, and has at times been treated under or confused with the variable C. montana complex. Its nodding campanulate flowers and montane forest habitat are diagnostic. The species is fairly widely distributed and faces no recognised conservation threat, though it depends on the persistence of intact temperate broad-leaved and coniferous forest.

Author: (Bruehl) Tamura · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, A Revision of the Genus Clematis (Grey-Wilson), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium brunonianum

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Nepal 99 666 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 5500m, July

Description

Delphinium brunonianum is a high-alpine perennial of the inner Himalaya and adjacent Central Asian ranges, recorded from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iraq eastward through northern India, Nepal and Bhutan into south-western China (Tibetan plateau), with some 698 georeferenced GBIF occurrences across this circum-Tibetan arc. It inhabits open stony slopes, screes, moraines and short alpine turf at extreme elevations, typically between about 4000 and 5500 m. The photographed plant from the Kagmara La in West Nepal at 5500 m in July represents the upper range of the species, where it flowers briefly during the short post-monsoon window on wind-exposed, gravelly ground.

It forms a low, tufted herb 8-20 cm tall arising from a stout rootstock, the whole plant glandular-pubescent and emitting a strong musky odour. The leaves are mostly basal, reniform to orbicular in outline and palmately three- to five-lobed with crenate segments. The few-flowered inflorescence bears unusually large, nodding, inflated flowers; the five petaloid sepals are pale to deep blue-purple, broadly ovate, the upper one prolonged into a short blunt spur, and the dark, hairy petals form a contrasting central boss. The fruit is a cluster of three erect, glandular follicles releasing winged seeds.

The species belongs to Delphinium sect. Brunoniana, a small group of musk-scented, large-flowered high-altitude larkspurs. Its strong scent and inflated corolla are associated with bumblebee pollination in a cold, insect-poor environment. Widely used in Tibetan and Himalayan folk medicine, it remains locally common across a vast remote range and is not considered threatened, though it is restricted to fragile alpine habitats sensitive to climate warming and grazing pressure.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Munz monograph of Delphinium

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium caeruleum

by GP Jürgens

Jacquem. ex Cambess.

Bhutan2015 676
Bhutan Chele-La 3960m, October

Description

Delphinium caeruleum is an alpine larkspur of the high Himalaya and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, distributed across south-western China, northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, well represented in GBIF with 646 occurrences. It inhabits dry alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, sandy and gravelly turf and rocky pastures, typically between 3000 and 5000 m, often on relatively arid, well-drained ground. The photographed plant was found at Chele-La in Bhutan at 3960 m in October, a notably late flowering for this short, cushion-like high-elevation species at the close of the growing season on an exposed pass.

It is a low perennial herb, often only 5-30 cm tall, arising from a slender taproot, with erect or ascending stems and finely dissected leaves divided into narrow linear segments, the lower leaves long-petiolate. The flowers are few in a lax raceme or sometimes solitary, and are an intense deep blue to violet-blue. Each flower has five showy petaloid sepals, the upper one prolonged backward into a slender spur, enclosing the smaller true petals, of which the upper pair forms the nectariferous spur and the lower pair is often bearded. The fruit is a cluster of three erect, glabrous to pubescent follicles releasing winged or scaly seeds.

The spurred flower with its concealed nectar reservoir is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees, abundant in Himalayan alpine grassland. Within Delphinium it belongs to a group of dwarf, blue-flowered, plateau and high-alpine larkspurs. Like other members of the genus it contains diterpenoid alkaloids and is toxic to livestock, which contributes to its persistence in grazed pasture. Wide-ranging and locally common across the Tibetan and Himalayan highlands, it is of least concern, and several Sino-Himalayan Delphinium species, this among them, feature in traditional Tibetan medicine.

Author: Jacquem. ex Cambess. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Munz: A Revision of Delphinium

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium cooperi

by GP Jürgens

Munz

Bhutan2012 184
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3200m September
Bhutan2012 185
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3200m September

Description

Delphinium cooperi is a Himalayan larkspur of restricted range, recorded principally from Bhutan and Nepal, with only about 42 GBIF occurrences reflecting its narrow distribution. It grows on open alpine and subalpine slopes, meadow margins and among scrub in cool, moist montane settings. The photographed plant in the Haa (Haar) valley of western Bhutan at 3200 m, flowering in September, captures its late-season anthesis in the high inner valleys, where it occupies humus-rich, well-drained ground in a cool, monsoon-influenced climate. Its limited recorded range marks it as a regional endemic of the eastern Himalaya.

The species is an erect perennial herb arising from a fibrous or somewhat thickened rootstock. The leaves are palmately divided into several cuneate, toothed or further-lobed segments, larger and longer-petiolate toward the base and reduced upward. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of zygomorphic flowers in shades of blue to violet; as in all Delphinium the upper sepal is prolonged backward into a conspicuous spur that encloses the nectariferous petal spurs. Stamens are numerous and the gynoecium of free carpels matures into a cluster of erect, many-seeded follicles that split along the inner suture to shed angular seeds.

Delphinium belongs to the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, within the tribe Delphinieae characterised by spurred, bilaterally symmetrical flowers. The long-spurred corolla of D. cooperi is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees that probe the nectar spurs. As with many members of the genus, the plant contains toxic diterpenoid alkaloids that deter grazing. Given its apparently narrow eastern-Himalayan range and modest population records, the species warrants attention as a potentially vulnerable regional endemic dependent on intact subalpine habitat.

Author: Munz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Munz Delphinium monograph