(Edgew.) Pusalkar & D.K.Singh
Description
Shivparvatia glanduligera is an alpine herb of the Caryophyllaceae distributed across the Himalaya from northern India (Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) through Nepal and Bhutan to southwestern China (Tibet). GBIF records 256 occurrences, making it one of the more frequently collected high-altitude caryophylls in the region. The species inhabits alpine meadows, moist scree, rocky slopes, and gravel flats at elevations of 3,500–5,200 m. The photograph from Bagubas in the Garhwal Himalaya at 4,000 m, taken in October, shows the species in the western part of its range during its late-season flowering.
The plant is a low, tufted perennial herb, 3–12 cm tall, with ascending stems that are characteristically glandular-pubescent throughout — the feature referenced in the epithet glanduligera. Leaves are opposite, linear-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 5–15 mm long, acute, with glandular hairs on both surfaces and margins. Flowers are solitary or in few-flowered terminal cymes. Sepals five, ovate-lanceolate, glandular-hairy, 3–5 mm long. Petals five, white, obovate, slightly exceeding the sepals, entire or shallowly emarginate at the apex. Stamens 10. Styles three. The capsule is ovoid, dehiscing by six teeth, containing numerous small, reniform, tuberculate seeds.
This species was long placed in Arenaria as A. glanduligera Edgew. before molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the traditional genus Arenaria was massively polyphyletic. Pusalkar and D.K. Singh transferred it to the newly erected genus Shivparvatia, named after the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati in reference to the Himalayan home of these plants. The reclassification reflects a broader reorganisation within Caryophyllaceae tribe Arenarieae based on molecular evidence. The species is ecologically significant as a component of high-alpine plant communities and is not currently assessed as threatened.
Author: (Edgew.) Pusalkar & D.K.Singh · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Pusalkar & Singh (2015) in Phytotaxa, Flora of China Vol. 6, Naithani: Flora of Chamoli Vol. 1