Tag:

Alpine (>3500 m)

Asteraceae

Ajania nubigena

by GP Jürgens

(Wall. ex DC.) Muldashev

Bhutan2012 303
Bhutan Shale-La, 4300m September
Garw 2005 301 ergebnis scaled
Garw 2005 302 ergebnis scaled
India Garhwal Patanathi 3600m, September

Description

Ajania nubigena is a high-altitude aromatic composite of the Himalaya and Tibetan borderlands, recorded from Nepal, China (Tibet), India and Bhutan, with 266 georeferenced occurrences spanning the alpine zone of the main range. It grows on dry, stony alpine slopes, gravelly screes, rock crevices and exposed ridges, typically in the upper subalpine to alpine belt. It was photographed on the Shale-La in Bhutan at 4300 m and in Garhwal, India, at Patanathi at 3600 m, both in September, when its yellow heads flower amid the dry autumn alpine turf of these high passes.

It is a low, tufted, somewhat woody-based perennial subshrub or herb forming compact clumps, the stems and foliage clothed in dense grey to silvery appressed hairs that give a felted appearance and impart drought and frost tolerance. The leaves are small, alternate and pinnately or bipinnately dissected into narrow lobes, grey-tomentose especially beneath. The flower heads are small, discoid (lacking ray florets) and yellow, aggregated into dense terminal corymbs; each head has an involucre of imbricate, scarious-margined phyllaries and numerous tubular hermaphrodite and marginal female florets. The fruit is a small ribbed cypsela, usually lacking a pappus.

The genus Ajania, segregated from Chrysanthemum and Tanacetum within tribe Anthemideae, comprises mostly silvery-leaved, discoid-headed species of arid Central Asian and Himalayan uplands; the combination (Wall. ex DC.) Muldashev reflects this transfer. Its dense indumentum and dissected leaves are adaptations to the cold, dry, high-radiation alpine environment. Ecologically it is a xerophytic specialist of open stony ground, widespread within its altitudinal band and of no conservation concern.

Author: (Wall. ex DC.) Muldashev · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Anthemideae systematics (Bremer & Humphries monograph)

Nartheciaceae

Aletris pauciflora

by G & P Jürgens

(Klotzsch) Hand.-Mazz.

BhutanPG2011 136
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3550m June
Garh 07 412 ergebnis
India Garhwal Khiar Kutti 4050m, June

Description

Aletris pauciflora is a small alpine colic-root distributed across the Himalaya and the south-eastern Tibetan plateau into south-western China, with GBIF records from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan and a substantial 1,651 occurrences indicating it is locally common. It grows in open alpine and subalpine meadows, moist turf, peaty grassland and the margins of dwarf-shrub heath, generally between about 3,000 and 4,500 m. The two cited plants, from Tsochenchen in Bhutan at 3,550 m and from Khiar Kutti in Garhwal, India, at 4,050 m, both flowering in June, span its broad longitudinal range and confirm its early-summer anthesis across the high Himalayan grasslands.

The plant is a small tufted rhizomatous perennial herb. The leaves form a basal rosette and are narrowly lanceolate to linear, grass-like, with parallel venation. From the rosette rises a slender, usually scapose flowering stem bearing a short terminal raceme of few flowers (reflected in the epithet pauciflora). Each flower has a campanulate to urceolate, six-lobed perianth that is white to pinkish and characteristically mealy or roughened on the outer surface, with six included stamens and a superior to half-inferior ovary. The fruit is a small loculicidal capsule containing numerous minute seeds.

Aletris is now placed in the family Nartheciaceae within the monocot order Dioscoreales, a position established by molecular phylogenetics that removed it from the broadly circumscribed lily and Liliaceae groupings where it was traditionally placed. Several infraspecific variants of A. pauciflora have been recognised across its range. Widespread and abundant, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: (Klotzsch) Hand.-Mazz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, GBIF, Tamura: Nartheciaceae in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants

Asteraceae

Allardia glabra

by GP Jürgens

Decne.

Sikkim2003 518 G720
Sikkim Yume Samdong 4700m August
Sikkim2003 519 P724
Sikkim Yume Samdong 4700m August

Description

Allardia glabra is a high-alpine composite of the Himalaya and central Asia, distributed across Nepal, India, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, with GBIF documenting about 327 occurrences. It is a plant of the uppermost alpine and subnival zones, growing on screes, moraines, gravelly flats and stony slopes at very high elevations, commonly between about 4000 and 5500 m. The photographed material from Yume Samdong in northern Sikkim at 4700 m, flowering in August, is typical of its extreme habitat, where it forms low cushions or mats on bare, frost-disturbed ground near the limit of vascular plant life, taking advantage of the short, intense growing season of the high summer.

It is a dwarf, cushion- or mat-forming perennial arising from a branched, often stout caudex clothed in the persistent remains of old leaves. The leaves are small, crowded, spathulate to obovate and entire or shallowly lobed at the tip, and, as the epithet glabra indicates, relatively glabrous compared with the woolly indumentum of related species. The flower heads are solitary, sessile or shortly stalked, nestled among the foliage, and radiate, with an involucre of imbricate, often dark-margined bracts. The pistillate ray florets are pink to lilac or whitish, surrounding numerous yellow tubular disc florets. The fruit is a small, ribbed cypsela crowned by a short pappus.

Allardia is a small genus of about half a dozen species centred on the high mountains of central Asia and the Himalaya, long included within Waldheimia, under which name (Waldheimia glabra) this taxon is frequently encountered. Its cushion habit, reduced glabrous leaves and ground-hugging capitula are classic adaptations to cold, wind-exposed, high-radiation subnival environments. As a specialist of the highest vegetated ground it is of biogeographic interest and potentially sensitive to upward shifts of the climatic snowline, though its remoteness affords protection.

Author: Decne. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Podlech and Asteraceae monographic treatments of Allardia (Waldheimia)

Asteraceae

Allardia stoliczkai

by G & P Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Nepal 99 659 ergebnis
Nepal Kagmara-La 5120m, July
Nepal 99 660 ergebnis
Nepal Kagmara-La 5120m, July

Description

Allardia stoliczkai is a dwarf, cushion-forming composite of the high alpine and subnival zones of the western and central Himalaya and the adjacent Tibetan Plateau. GBIF records cluster across Pakistan and Tajikistan, with the broader distribution embracing Ladakh, northern India, western Tibet and Nepal; the photographed individual was collected on the Kagmara-La in western Nepal at about 5,120 m in July, near the upper limit of vascular plant life. It colonises stony alpine turf, glacial moraine, scree and frost-heaved fellfield on calcareous and schistose substrates, typically between 4,000 and 5,500 m, where it endures intense insolation, desiccating winds and a brief growing season.

The plant forms a compact, often silvery rosette arising from a stout, woody, branching taproot and short rhizome. The leaves are crowded, pinnatisect to bipinnatisect with narrow oblong lobes, and densely clothed in white woolly to silky tomentum that reduces transpiration and reflects ultraviolet radiation. The flower heads are solitary, sessile or nearly so, comparatively large and discoid to radiate, with an involucre of woolly, dark-margined phyllaries; the corollas are typically pinkish-purple to rose. The fruit is a small ribbed cypsela crowned by a short pappus of scales.

The taxon, long placed in Waldheimia, is now generally referred to Allardia, and the relatively few GBIF occurrences reflect both genuine rarity and the inaccessibility of its subnival habitat rather than threat. Its tight cushion architecture exemplifies convergent adaptation to cold deserts of High Asia. While not formally assessed as threatened, such narrowly restricted, slow-growing alpine endemics are sensitive to climate warming and the upslope contraction of suitable ground.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China Vol. 20-21 (Asteraceae), Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2

Amaryllidaceae

Allium blandum

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 99 596 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara Phedi 3900m, July

Description

Allium blandum is a high-alpine onion of the western Himalaya, recorded by GBIF across about 52 occurrences from China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal, an accepted species ranging along the drier inner ranges of the mountain chain. It is a plant of open, stony alpine pastures, gravelly slopes and rock ledges, generally above 3500 m and reaching well into the 4000-4500 m band. The image from Kagmara Phedi in west Nepal at 3900 m, flowering in July, captures its typical setting and midsummer phenology, when the snow-fed alpine turf is briefly in flower; in such habitats it grows scattered among cushion plants and grasses on well-drained, sunny ground exposed to the full intensity of high-mountain light.

The plant grows from a small ovoid bulb with membranous to slightly fibrous tunics, producing a slender scape usually 10-25 cm tall. The few basal leaves are narrowly linear, channelled and shorter than to about equalling the scape, withering as flowering proceeds. The inflorescence is a hemispherical to globose umbel of relatively few, pedicellate flowers subtended by a membranous spathe; the perianth segments are pink to rose-purple, often with a deeper midvein, campanulate to stellate at anthesis, with stamens shorter than or equalling the tepals. The fruit is a small loculicidal capsule bearing several black seeds.

Allium, the largest genus of the family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Allioideae), is richly represented in the dry western Himalaya and Central Asia, and A. blandum belongs to the pink-flowered alpine assemblage allied to species such as A. carolinianum, with which it has historically been confused. It is distinguished by bulb tunic texture, leaf width and floral proportions. As a widespread but high-elevation species occurring across several countries it is not regarded as threatened, though like other Himalayan alpines it is locally subject to grazing and trampling on summer pastures.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China Vol. 24, Stearn's revision of Himalayan and Central Asian Allium

Amaryllidaceae

Allium prattii

by GP Jürgens

C.H.Wright

Sikkim2003 206 P288
Sikkim Dzongri 4000m, August

Description

Allium prattii is a widespread alpine onion of the Himalaya and adjacent ranges, distributed across China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Mongolia, and is among the better-documented species in this set with nearly 1500 georeferenced records in GBIF. It grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, forest clearings, scrub and damp grassy slopes, generally between about 2500 and 4500 m. The plant illustrated was photographed at Dzongri in Sikkim at 4000 m in August, a characteristic high-alpine setting where it flowers during the summer monsoon.

The species is a bulbous perennial with a narrowly cylindrical to ovoid bulb sheathed in fibrous to membranous tunics. It typically bears two flat, lanceolate to elliptic basal leaves that are shorter than to about equalling the scape. The leafless flowering stem is erect and terete, bearing a terminal, more or less hemispherical umbel subtended by a persistent papery spathe. The flowers are stellate to campanulate, with six purplish-red, rose to lilac tepals, exserted stamens and a superior ovary; the fruit is a small loculicidal capsule containing black seeds.

Allium prattii is placed in Allium (Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae), a very large genus whose Himalayan and Central Asian members form a notable centre of diversity. Like several relatives it is edible, gathered locally as a wild vegetable and seasoning, and grazed by livestock. Its broad geographic and altitudinal range and large population base make it secure overall, and it is not regarded as threatened, though particular alpine stands are subject to heavy collection and grazing pressure in well-frequented high-pasture areas.

Author: C.H.Wright · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Stearn Monograph of the Genus Allium

Asteraceae

Anaphalis cavei

by GP Jürgens

Chatterjee

Nepal 95 418 W728 ergebnis
Nepal Jaisuli Kund 4200m, October

Description

Anaphalis cavei is a Himalayan high-alpine species recorded from Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and southwestern China, with around 91 occurrences concentrated along the main Himalayan axis. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, the accompanying image documenting it at Jaisuli Kund in Nepal at about 4200 m in October, as the brief autumn growing season closes. It inhabits open stony slopes, alpine meadow turf, moraine and rocky ground near and above the treeline, growing in well-drained, often gravelly substrates exposed to intense insolation and cold, where its dense indumentum mitigates desiccation and ultraviolet stress.

It is a small, perennial, white-woolly herb forming low tufts or mats from a branched, somewhat woody caudex. The stems and leaves are densely covered in appressed lanate-tomentose hairs giving a silvery-grey aspect; the leaves are narrowly oblanceolate to spathulate, often with margins revolute and bases decurrent or semi-amplexicaul. The capitula are aggregated into a compact terminal corymb; each head is surrounded by several rows of dry, papery, pearly-white involucral bracts characteristic of the genus. The plants are functionally dioecious, with female and male florets borne predominantly on separate heads, and the cypselae are small, glabrous and crowned by a deciduous capillary pappus.

The species, described by Chatterjee, belongs to tribe Gnaphalieae, the genus Anaphalis being a taxonomically intricate group of "everlasting" daisies whose papery bracts persist long after flowering. Its restricted high-elevation range, dense wool and cushion-like habit are adaptations to the harsh alpine environment, and seed dispersal is anemochorous via the pappus. Owing to its narrow, remote montane distribution it has not been formally assessed, but it appears locally frequent within suitable alpine habitat.

Author: Chatterjee · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Gnaphalieae monograph (Asteraceae)

Asteraceae

Anaphalis contorta

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f.

Bhutan2015 325
Bhutan Trongsa 2000m, October
Bhutan2012 294
Bhutan Shele-La, 3900m September
Bhutan2012 892
Bhutan Tumching-La, 3700m October
Bhutan2012 893
Bhutan Tumching-La, 3700m October

Description

Anaphalis contorta is a widespread Asian everlasting distributed from Nepal, India and Bhutan through China to the Philippines, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, with GBIF recording over 1280 occurrences across this broad range. It is a plant of open, sunny, often dry and stony ground, favouring grassy slopes, banks, rocky pasture, trackside verges and forest margins from the temperate zone up into the subalpine. The cited Bhutanese localities span this breadth, from Trongsa at 2000 m in October to the Shele-La at 3900 m in September and the Tumching-La at 3700 m in October, demonstrating its occurrence from mid-montane forest country to high subalpine passes where it persists and flowers into the autumn.

It is a perennial herb forming tufts from a woody rootstock, the erect stems and the linear to narrowly lanceolate leaves clothed in dense white or greyish woolly tomentum, the leaf margins frequently revolute and somewhat contorted, a feature alluded to in the epithet. The capitula are small and numerous, aggregated into dense terminal corymbose clusters. Each head is surrounded by an involucre of dry, papery, persistent white phyllaries that constitute the showy part of the inflorescence, the plant being functionally dioecious with male and female heads on separate individuals. The minute tubular florets give rise to tiny cypselae bearing a pappus of slender barbellate bristles.

A member of tribe Gnaphalieae, Anaphalis comprises numerous Himalayan and East Asian species whose papery white "everlasting" bracts are an adaptation to exposed, drought-prone montane habitats and aid in attracting pollinators to the small florets. The dried inflorescences are long-lasting and locally gathered for decoration. Tolerant of poor soils and disturbance and very widely distributed, A. contorta is a secure species of no conservation concern.

Author: Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Hilliard's revision of Anaphalis (Gnaphalieae)

Asteraceae

Anaphalis margaritacea

by GP Jürgens

(L.) Benth. & Hook.f.

Bhutan2012 98
Bhutan Shele-La, 3600m September

Description

Among the most widely distributed of all Asteraceae, Anaphalis margaritacea spans a remarkable circumboreal and montane range, documented from North America (US, CA) and eastern Asia (CN, JP, TW) across the Himalaya (NP, IN) to a broad swathe of temperate Europe (GB, SE, DE, CZ, FR, AT, NL, CH, DK, NO, FI) and Russia, with more than 62,000 GBIF occurrences attesting to its abundance and partly naturalised status in the Old World. It favours open, well-drained sunny situations: grassy slopes, forest margins, roadsides, screes and subalpine meadows. In the eastern Himalaya it ascends well into the high mountains, as seen in the photographed population on the Shele-La in Bhutan at around 3600 m in September, where it flowers late in the season on stony alpine turf.

A perennial herb arising from a creeping rhizome, it forms erect, simple stems 20–60 cm tall, densely clothed throughout in white woolly-tomentose indumentum. The leaves are alternate, sessile, linear to linear-lanceolate, often somewhat decurrent, green and thinly arachnoid above and persistently white-tomentose beneath, with revolute margins. The inflorescence is a dense terminal corymb of numerous small capitula; each head is surrounded by several series of pearly-white, papery, radiating involucral bracts that give the plant its lasting ornamental quality. The florets are functionally unisexual, the species being largely dioecious, with tubular yellowish disc florets. The fruit is a small oblong cypsela bearing a pappus of slender barbellate bristles aiding wind dispersal.

The pearly everlasting is the type species of Anaphalis, a genus of the tribe Gnaphalieae centred on Asia, and its papery bracts retain form when dried, long valuing it in floristry. Ecologically it is a colonist of disturbed and pioneer ground, behaving as a weakly invasive naturalised plant in parts of Europe. Of least conservation concern given its vast range and ecological tolerance, it nonetheless provides a useful nectar source for late-season pollinators and larval food for certain lepidoptera.

Author: (L.) Benth. & Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 20-21, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Anaphalis monograph (Hilliard & Burtt, Gnaphalieae)

Asteraceae

Anaphalis nepalensis var. monocephala

by GP Jürgens

(DC.) Hand.-Mazz.

Sikkim2003 187 P255
Sikkim Dzongri 4000m 08.2003
Nepal 99 274 ergebnis
West-Nepal Loccu 3800m, June
Garw 2005 150 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Kuari-Pass 3900m, September

Description

Anaphalis nepalensis var. monocephala is a high-alpine pearly everlasting of the Himalaya and adjacent China, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Taiwan and south-west China across 426 georeferenced occurrences. It occupies open alpine turf, screes, rocky slopes and gravelly moraine in the upper alpine zone. The cited collections at Dzongri in Sikkim (4000 m), Loccu in west Nepal (3800 m) and the Kuari Pass in Garhwal (3900 m) confirm its preference for elevations of roughly 3500-4800 m, where it flowers through the short summer and into early autumn. The variety is distinguished from typical A. nepalensis chiefly by its solitary or few terminal capitula on dwarf, cushion-forming stems.

It is a low, mat- or cushion-forming perennial herb with a branched woody caudex and short, white-woolly (lanate) stems and foliage. The leaves are spathulate to oblanceolate, crowded toward the base, densely grey-tomentose and frequently bearing a tuft of wool at the apex. The capitula are usually solitary (monocephalous), comparatively large, and surrounded by numerous papery, pearly-white, radiating involucral bracts that simulate ray florets; the true florets are small and yellowish, the plant being functionally dioecious. The fruit is a tiny cypsela crowned by a pappus of barbellate bristles.

The genus Anaphalis belongs to tribe Gnaphalieae (the cudweeds and everlastings), in which dry, persistent scarious bracts give the inflorescences their lasting quality. The white bracts and clustered florets attract small flies and bees, while the plumed cypselae are wind-dispersed. The variety is locally frequent in high Himalayan pastures and is not considered threatened, though sensitive to heavy grazing and trampling.

Author: (DC.) Hand.-Mazz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Hilliard & Burtt Gnaphalieae studies