Tag:

Alpine (>3500 m)

Asteraceae

Cremanthodium ellisii

by GP Jürgens

(Hook.f.) Kitam.

Nepal 95 164 P266 ergebnis
Nepal Rupien La 3900m October

Description

Cremanthodium ellisii is an alpine perennial of the Himalaya and the eastern Tibetan plateau, recorded from China, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan, with 754 occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of high, open habitats: alpine meadows, scree, moraine, rocky slopes and stream margins, characteristically between 3500 and 5600 m, ranking among the highest-ascending composites of the region. The Nepalese collection figured, from Rupien La at 3900 m in October, reflects its occupancy of cold, exposed pass environments and its persistence into late autumn at the lower edge of its altitudinal span, on stony, well-drained alpine soils.

It forms a stout perennial rootstock from which arise erect, often woolly or purplish flowering stems 10-40 cm tall. The basal leaves are petiolate with ovate to reniform, dentate to lobed blades, while the stem leaves become smaller and amplexicaul upward. The stems are crowned by one to several large, nodding (cernuous) capitula, the nodding habit characteristic of the genus; the involucral bracts are densely covered with dark or pale hairs. Ray florets are golden-yellow, ligulate and female, surrounding numerous tubular yellow disc florets. The fruit is a glabrous cylindrical achene bearing a pappus of soft white bristles.

Cremanthodium (Asteraceae, tribe Senecioneae) is a Sino-Himalayan genus of roughly seventy species, closely allied to Ligularia and Senecio and distinguished by its nodding heads, an adaptation protecting florets from rain and intense alpine irradiance. C. ellisii is a variable, widespread species, broadly distributed and not threatened, though as a true alpine specialist it is potentially vulnerable to upward habitat compression under climate warming.

Author: (Hook.f.) Kitam. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Monograph of Cremanthodium (Compositae, Senecioneae)

Asteraceae

Cremanthodium oblongatum

by GP Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Sikkim2003 312 P442
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4300m August

Description

Cremanthodium oblongatum is an alpine herb of the eastern Himalaya and southern Tibetan Plateau, recorded from Nepal, China (Xizang), India and Bhutan, with 214 occurrences in GBIF (the German points reflecting cultivated or herbarium material). It grows on open alpine meadows, screes, rocky slopes and moist turf at high elevation, generally between 3600 and 5000 m. The plant photographed near Saniti Lake in Sikkim at about 4300 m in August is typical of the cold, humid, well-irrigated alpine grassland it occupies during the brief monsoon-driven flowering period high above the treeline.

The species is a perennial herb arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The mostly basal leaves are long-petiolate with oblong to elliptic, entire or shallowly toothed blades, somewhat fleshy and often with a whitish or purplish cast. The flowering stem is erect, simple and bears one or few solitary, nodding (pendent) capitula, the nodding habit being a defining genus character. Each head has a hemispherical involucre of subequal, often dark purple-haired phyllaries, an outer ray of yellow ligulate female florets and a central disc of yellow tubular bisexual florets. The fruit is a glabrous cylindrical achene crowned by a pappus of fine whitish bristles.

Cremanthodium (tribe Senecioneae) is a Sino-Himalayan alpine genus closely allied to Ligularia and Parasenecio, distinguished by its characteristically nodding heads, an adaptation thought to shelter the florets from rain, cold and ultraviolet exposure at high altitude. Pollination is by alpine bumblebees and flies, and the plumed achenes are wind-dispersed. The species is locally frequent within its narrow alpine band and is not formally assessed as threatened, but its restriction to cold high-elevation habitats makes it potentially vulnerable to climate-driven warming and the upslope compression of the alpine zone.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Good Revision of the Genus Cremanthodium

Asteraceae

Cremanthodium palmatum

by GP Jürgens

Benth.

Sikkim2003 335 G472
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4100m August

Description

Cremanthodium palmatum is an alpine herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Sino-Himalayan mountains, recorded in GBIF (about 330 occurrences) from China, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Taiwan. It inhabits moist alpine meadows, streamsides, seepage slopes and rocky turf, generally between 3500 and 4500 m, where late-summer monsoon moisture sustains lush herbaceous growth. The photographed population at Saniti Lake in Sikkim at 4100 m in August typifies its preferred high-elevation, snowmelt-fed habitat, flowering as the brief alpine summer reaches its peak.

It is a perennial with a short rhizome and fibrous roots, producing erect, somewhat glandular-hairy stems. The basal leaves are long-petiolate and palmately lobed or divided, the blade reniform to orbicular in outline with toothed segments, recalling the foliage of a buttercup; the stem leaves are reduced and sessile upwards. The capitula are usually solitary and nodding, characteristic of the genus, with broad campanulate involucres of subequal, often dark-margined bracts. The ray florets are yellow, ligulate and spreading, surrounding numerous yellow tubular disc florets; the fruit is a cylindrical, glabrous achene crowned by a pappus of fine white bristles.

Cremanthodium belongs to tribe Senecioneae of the Asteraceae and is closely allied to Ligularia and Parasenecio, distinguished by its predominantly nodding, solitary alpine capitula. The genus is centred on the Hengduan Shan and eastern Himalaya, where rapid diversification has accompanied uplift and glacial cycling, making C. palmatum part of a characteristic high-alpine endemic radiation. Restricted to specialised cold, wet habitats but locally frequent across its range, it is not regarded as globally threatened, though such alpine specialists are sensitive to climatic warming.

Author: Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Good revision of Cremanthodium

Asteraceae

Cremanthodium reniforme

by GP Jürgens

(DC.) Benth. 

BhutanPG2011 282
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4100m June
Sikkim2003 110 P149
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m August
Nepal 95 161 P262 ergebnis
Nepal Rupien La 3900m October
Nepal 99 619 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 4300m, July

Description

Cremanthodium reniforme is a high-alpine herb of the central and eastern Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, India (Sikkim), Bhutan and adjacent China; the 294 occurrences map a continuous Himalayan arc, with outlying records in New Zealand reflecting cultivated material. It grows on moist alpine meadows, rocky slopes, screes and streambanks, characteristically between about 3500 and 4800 m. The collated localities, from Bhutan's Jule-Tso at 4100 m and Sikkim's Dzongri at 3900 m to the Rupien La and the Kagmara-La in west Nepal at 3900–4300 m, span June to October, illustrating its strictly high-elevation distribution and protracted summer flowering in the snow-melt zone.

The species is a perennial herb with a short rhizome bearing fleshy roots and erect, often purplish, arachnoid scapose stems. The basal leaves are conspicuous, long-petiolate and reniform to cordate-orbicular, with a palmately veined, dentate blade; the cauline leaves are few and reduced. The capitula are large, solitary and nodding, radiate, with an involucre of blackish-hairy phyllaries. The ray florets are female and golden-yellow, the disc florets tubular and yellow. The cypselae are oblong and glabrous, bearing a pappus of soft, brownish or whitish barbellate bristles roughly equalling the corolla.

Cremanthodium is a Sino-Himalayan genus of about seventy species centred on the Hengduan Shan and Himalaya, segregated from Ligularia chiefly by its solitary nodding capitula, an adaptation that shields pollen and developing achenes from rain and intense alpine radiation. The reniform basal leaves make C. reniforme distinctive among its congeners. Restricted to high alpine habitats yet wide-ranging, it is not currently regarded as threatened, though such species are sensitive to climatic warming and upslope habitat compression.

Author: (DC.) Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 20-21, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Good Revision of Cremanthodium

Brassicaceae

Crucihimalaya himalaica

by GP Jürgens

(Edgew.) Al-Shehbaz, O’Kane & R.A.Price

Bh09 187 G324
Bhutan Phajoding, 3700m June
Nepal 99 155 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3400m, June

Description

Crucihimalaya himalaica is a widespread alpine crucifer of the High Asian mountains, strongly represented in GBIF with about 704 occurrences spanning India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Iran and Myanmar. It is a plant of open, often disturbed high-elevation ground, growing on stony slopes, screes, moraine, grazed turf, fallow and the margins of cultivation in the subalpine and alpine belts. The plants photographed at Phajoding in Bhutan at about 3700 m and south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at 3400 m, both in June, illustrate its characteristic occupation of open alpine slopes early in the growing season across the breadth of the range.

It is an annual to short-lived perennial herb with a basal rosette of oblanceolate to spathulate leaves bearing toothed or lyrate-pinnatifid margins, the herbage often clothed in branched (stellate or dendritic) and simple hairs. The erect, sparingly leafy stems terminate in racemes of small flowers with four free sepals and four white to pale lilac petals arranged in the cruciform pattern of the family, and six stamens in the usual tetradynamous arrangement. The fruit is a slender, linear, elongate silique that ascends to spreading and dehisces by two valves from a persistent septum to release the seeds.

The genus Crucihimalaya was segregated from Arabis and allied genera on molecular and morphological grounds by Al-Shehbaz, O'Kane and R.A.Price, and it is closely related to Arabidopsis, making the group of interest in comparative and evolutionary genomics. As an abundant, ecologically flexible species thriving in both natural and anthropogenically disturbed alpine habitats, C. himalaica is of no conservation concern, and its wide range reflects effective dispersal and tolerance of harsh, open mountain conditions.

Author: (Edgew.) Al-Shehbaz, O'Kane & R.A.Price · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Al-Shehbaz Brassicaceae of the Himalaya

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus himalaicus

by GP Jürgens

K.K.Shrestha

Sikkim2003 288 P391
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4250m August

Description

Cyananthus himalaicus is a high-alpine perennial known from the central and eastern Himalaya, with GBIF records concentrated in Nepal (gbif_countries: NP) and only seven documented occurrences, indicating a narrowly recorded and infrequently collected taxon. Like its congeners it inhabits open alpine turf, rocky slopes, screes and the margins of glacial meltwater, growing well above treeline in the cool, short-season environments of the inner ranges. The illustrated material was gathered near Saniti Lake in Sikkim at about 4250 m in August, when the late-summer flush of alpine flowering coincides with the waning monsoon, a habitat typical for the genus along the moist Himalayan crest.

The plant forms low, often mat-like or loosely tufted growth from a slender woody rootstock, with prostrate to ascending stems bearing small, alternate, entire to shallowly toothed leaves that are frequently revolute and somewhat fleshy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, with a campanulate to tubular corolla that is typically blue to violet-blue, five-lobed, and bearded within the throat by a ring of hairs, a hallmark of Cyananthus. The calyx is tubular and densely hairy, and the fruit is a capsule enclosing numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus of the bellflower family centred on the alpine zone, and C. himalaicus belongs to the assemblage of small-flowered, prostrate species adapted to exposed, well-drained high-mountain sites. Its limited occurrence data reflect under-collection in remote terrain rather than necessarily a restricted range; nonetheless its apparent rarity in records argues for attention to its alpine habitats, which are sensitive to grazing pressure and climatic warming.

Author: K.K.Shrestha · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Revision of the genus Cyananthus (Campanulaceae)

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus incanus

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2012 84
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Bhutan2012 87
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Sikkim2003 136 G184
Sikkim Dzongri 3950m, August

Description

Cyananthus incanus is a low alpine perennial of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Tibet, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with about 777 occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open alpine turf, stony slopes, screes and the margins of dwarf rhododendron scrub, generally between 3500 and 4500 m, in well-drained sites of the upper alpine zone. The photographs from the Shele La in Bhutan at about 4100 m in September and from Dzongri in Sikkim at about 3950 m in August show the plant flowering through the late-monsoon and early-autumn season typical of the high eastern Himalaya.

The plant is a mat-forming or loosely tufted perennial with a stout, woody rootstock from which radiate slender, prostrate to ascending stems. The small leaves are alternate, ovate to obovate, entire or slightly toothed, and clothed in greyish hairs, the indumentum reflected in the epithet incanus. The flowers are solitary and terminal, comparatively large for the plant; the calyx is densely hairy and tubular, and the broadly bell-shaped to funnelform corolla is blue to purplish-blue with five spreading lobes and a conspicuous tuft of hairs (a beard) closing the throat, a hallmark of the genus. The fruit is a capsule splitting from the apex to release numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of the Campanulaceae distinguished from Campanula by its terminal solitary flowers, a deeply lobed corolla and the bearded throat. The cushion or mat habit and woolly leaves are typical adaptations to the cold, wind-exposed and sun-drenched conditions of the alpine zone. Several species, including C. incanus, are prized in alpine and rock gardens for their intense blue flowers. Locally frequent across its range, it is not regarded as threatened.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lammers' classification of the Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus inflatus

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2012 258
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 106
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September

Description

Cyananthus inflatus is an annual herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent mountains, recorded by GBIF in some 605 occurrences from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar. It occupies open alpine and subalpine ground, including grassy slopes, screes, disturbed banks and the margins of trails and meadows, broadly between 3000 and 4300 m. The illustrated plant was photographed in Bhutan at the Shele-La at 4000 m in September, flowering late in the season as autumn approaches, when many alpine annuals complete their cycle on cool, well-drained slopes.

The plant is a slender, branching annual with ascending to decumbent stems bearing alternate, small, ovate to spathulate leaves that are entire or slightly toothed and sparsely hairy. The flowers are terminal and solitary on the branch tips, subtended by a leafy involucre. The calyx is conspicuously inflated and tubular, becoming swollen and membranous in fruit, clothed in dark or appressed hairs. The corolla is broadly campanulate, pale to deep blue, five-lobed and bearded within at the throat with a tuft of hairs characteristic of the genus. The fruit is a capsule enclosed by the persistent inflated calyx, splitting to shed numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus (Campanulaceae) is a Sino-Himalayan genus of around twenty species notable for its bearded corolla throat and superior to half-inferior ovary, distinguishing it from the related Codonopsis and Campanula. The epithet inflatus refers to the swollen fruiting calyx, a diagnostic feature within the annual group. GBIF treats the name as accepted. As a wide-ranging, often weedy annual of disturbed alpine ground, it is locally common and of no conservation concern.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Lammers studies of Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus integer 

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Garw 2005 294 ergebnis
India Garhwal Patanati 3600m, September

Description

Cyananthus integer is a cushion-forming alpine herb of the western and central Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from India, Nepal and adjacent territories across some 48 occurrences, with an accepted status under its current name. It is a plant of high-altitude open habitats: stony alpine meadows, gravelly slopes, rock crevices and the margins of moraine, typically between about 3300 and 4300 m. The photographed material from Patanati in Garhwal at 3600 m, flowering in September, illustrates both its preferred elevation and its late-season phenology, the blooms opening towards the close of the monsoon when many co-occurring alpines are already in fruit. Like other members of its genus it thrives on the well-drained, sun-exposed turf and screes of the upper alpine zone.

The plant forms low, somewhat trailing to ascending mats from a slender woody rootstock, with numerous prostrate or decumbent stems clothed in small, alternate, entire to shallowly toothed leaves that are often densely arranged toward the stem tips. The solitary, terminal flowers are the conspicuous feature: a broadly funnelform to campanulate corolla, blue to violet-blue, with five spreading lobes and a conspicuous tuft of hairs in the throat. The calyx is tubular and frequently dark-hairy, the stamens five, and the ovary inferior to half-inferior. The fruit is a capsule that releases small seeds, the persistent calyx aiding wind exposure on the open slopes.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus of roughly twenty species centred on the Himalaya and southwest China, distinguished from related Campanulaceae by its throat-bearded, often deeply lobed corolla and its alpine, cushion-forming habit. C. integer sits among the blue-flowered, entire- to weakly toothed-leaved species and is told from relatives by leaf form and indumentum. As a widespread but elevation-restricted alpine it has not been flagged as threatened, though high-mountain plants of this kind are increasingly studied as indicators of climatic shifts in the Himalayan alpine belt.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Cyananthus monograph (a revision of the genus by Sykes/Brown)

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus lobatus

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Bhutan2012 75
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Sikkim2003 114 G154
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 130 P176
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m 08.2003

Description

Cyananthus lobatus is a well-known Himalayan trailing bellflower distributed from Nepal through India, Bhutan and southern Tibet (China) into Myanmar, with the genus's comparatively abundant 515 GBIF records (additional European and North American codes reflect its popularity in cultivation). It grows in the alpine and upper subalpine zones on open grassy slopes, rock ledges, screes and moist turf, broadly between about 3000 and 4500 m. The plants illustrated, from the Shele-La in Bhutan at around 4100 m in September and from Dzongri in Sikkim near 4000 m in August, occupy this late-summer to autumn alpine habitat.

It is a low, mat-forming or sprawling perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, with prostrate to ascending, often reddish stems bearing small, alternate, obovate leaves that are usually lobed or toothed and somewhat fleshy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, large and showy for the plant's size; the broadly funnelform to bowl-shaped corolla is deep blue to violet-blue, five-lobed, and conspicuously bearded with white hairs in the throat, subtended by a swollen, hairy calyx tube. The fruit is a capsule enclosed in the persistent calyx, releasing numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus distinguished from other Campanulaceae by its terminal solitary flowers, throat beard and superior ovary, and C. lobatus is its most familiar species, long valued as a choice late-flowering rock-garden plant, which explains its wide ex-situ record base. Its prostrate, cushiony habit suits exposed high-altitude ground. The species is widespread and locally common across the Himalaya and is not considered threatened, although alpine grazing and warming-driven upslope vegetation shifts could affect individual populations.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lammers Revision of Campanulaceae