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Autumn

Primulaceae

Primula glomerata

by GP Jürgens

Pax

Nepal 95 113 P200 ergebnis
Nepal Rupina-La 3100m, September

Description

Primula glomerata Pax is an alpine primrose of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and southern China, with roughly 207 GBIF occurrences; isolated points in Canada and Japan reflect botanic-garden or cultivated material. It inhabits open grassy slopes, moist alpine meadows and the margins of streams and seepages, broadly between about 3000 and 4500 m. The photographed plant from the Rupina-La in central Nepal at approximately 3100 m, in September, illustrates its late-season flowering on cool, humid montane turf where it forms scattered colonies among short alpine herbage.

The species is a perennial herb with a short rootstock bearing a rosette of leaves that are oblong to spathulate, crenate to denticulate at the margin, and frequently mealy or efarinose beneath. From the rosette rises a slender scape terminating in a dense, capitate or glomerate inflorescence, whence the epithet, of small bluish-purple to violet flowers; each has a tubular calyx and a salverform corolla with an annulate throat and notched lobes. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

Primula glomerata is classified within Primula section Capitatae (subgenus Aleuritia), a group of farinose, head-flowered Sino-Himalayan primulas. Its capitate inflorescence and farina distinguish it from related taxa such as P. capitata. Locally frequent across its alpine range and not currently of conservation concern, it remains sensitive to grazing pressure and habitat disturbance at high elevations.

Author: Pax · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Richards monograph Primula (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh)

Primulaceae

Primula petiolaris

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 95 108 P193 ergebnis
Nepal below Rupien La 3050m October
Garh 07 103 ergebnis
India Garhwal Meggu Kichatti 3100m, June
Garh 07 102 ergebnis
India Garhwal Meggu Kichatti 3100m, June

Description

Primula petiolaris Wall. is a small, cushion- or mat-forming primrose of the Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and south-west China. It is a plant of cool, moist, shaded sites in the upper-temperate to alpine zone, growing on humus-rich banks, in rock crevices, beside streams and on mossy ledges, typically around 3000 to 4000 m. The recorded gatherings from below the Rupien La in Nepal at 3050 m and from Meggu Kichatti in Garhwal at 3100 m, the latter flowering in June soon after snowmelt, illustrate its early-season flowering in damp, semi-shaded high-mountain habitats where it forms low rosettes among rocks and moss.

The plant is a low, tufted perennial forming dense rosettes of obovate to spathulate leaves that taper gradually into a winged petiole (the basis of the epithet petiolaris), with finely toothed margins and a somewhat fleshy texture. The flowers are borne singly or in small clusters nestled within or just above the foliage on very short scapes, so that the plant appears almost stemless at flowering. Each flower has a tubular calyx and a salver-shaped corolla, rose-pink to purple with a contrasting white or yellowish eye ringing the throat. As in many primulas the species is heterostylous, with pin and thrum flower forms, and sets a small capsule releasing numerous fine seeds.

Primula petiolaris belongs to the large Himalayan radiation of section Petiolares, an intricate group of early-flowering, rosette-forming primroses whose species delimitation has long challenged taxonomists. Its precocious flowering, often as snow recedes, points to early-emerging insects as pollinators. Choice plants of this section are prized by alpine-garden growers, but P. petiolaris remains widespread and is not regarded as threatened, though its specialised montane microhabitats are sensitive to disturbance and climatic change.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Primulaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Rosaceae

Prunus campanulata

by GP Jürgens

Maxim.

Nepal 95 437 P759 ergebnis
Nepal Trisuli 2400m October

Description

Prunus campanulata is an East Asian cherry distributed across southern China, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong, with outlying records reaching the central Himalaya in Nepal, India and Vietnam; it is also widely cultivated and naturalised in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Americas, accounting for the broad GBIF footprint of nearly 1,900 occurrences. In its native range it occupies montane broad-leaved and mixed forest, forest margins and ravines, typically between 500 and 2,500 m. The plant photographed near Trisuli in central Nepal at about 2,400 m in October represents the species at the higher end of its Himalayan range, in cool, humid temperate forest on well-drained slopes.

It is a deciduous tree or large shrub reaching 3-8 m, with glabrous, reddish-brown twigs and conspicuous lenticels. The leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptic-oblong, 4-10 cm long, acuminate, with a sharply biserrate margin and glandular petioles. The flowers, borne in fascicles of 2-4 before or with the young leaves, are pendent and bell-shaped (campanulate), 1-2 cm across, with a deep rose-pink to carmine urceolate hypanthium and rounded, notched petals enclosed by a persistent reddish calyx. The fruit is a small ovoid drupe, ripening dark red to purplish-black and enclosing a single stone.

The distinctive nodding, deeply coloured campanulate flowers and early flowering season distinguish P. campanulata within subgenus Cerasus, where it is placed in section Pseudocerasus. Its early bloom makes it an important nectar source for overwintering birds and early insects, and the drupes are bird-dispersed. The species is horticulturally prized as the Taiwan or bellflower cherry and is a parent in numerous ornamental hybrids; its wide naturalisation reflects this cultivation, and it is locally regarded as a minor invasive in parts of the southern hemisphere. It is not considered threatened.

Author: Maxim. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Kew Bulletin monograph of Prunus subgen. Cerasus

Rosaceae

Pyrus pashia

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Bhutan2012 1264
Bhutan Trashigang 1720m, October

Description

Pyrus pashia Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don, the wild Himalayan pear, is a widespread tree of the temperate Himalaya and adjacent ranges, distributed from Pakistan and Afghanistan through northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and south-west China into mainland Southeast Asia, with scattered introductions elsewhere. It grows in open broad-leaved forest, on forest margins, hillsides and around cultivation in the warm- to cool-temperate belt, generally between about 1000 and 2500 m. The photographed tree from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1720 m, recorded in October when the fruit is ripening, typifies its occurrence in lower-montane forest and the agricultural landscapes where it is often retained or semi-cultivated.

The plant is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree with a rounded crown, the branches sometimes bearing short, stiff spines. The alternate leaves are ovate to elliptic, with finely toothed margins, an acuminate apex and a slender petiole, often hairy when young and turning colour before leaf-fall. In spring, before or with the new leaves, it bears showy corymbs of white, five-petalled flowers with numerous stamens bearing reddish to purple anthers. The fruit is a small, rounded to subglobose brown pome, dotted with conspicuous pale lenticels and gritty with stone cells, becoming sweet and edible only when bletted (over-ripened).

Within the genus Pyrus (Rosaceae, subfamily Amygdaloideae) P. pashia is a key Asian wild pear, valued as a rootstock for cultivated pears and a source of edible fruit and timber. Its blossom attracts bees and other insects, and the fruit is dispersed by birds, mammals and people. The species is widespread, common and of least concern, and is of interest to plant breeders as a reservoir of genetic diversity and disease resistance.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Rosaceae), Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Bhutan, Pears: Botany, Production and Uses

Fagaceae

Quercus glauca

by GP Jürgens

Thunb.

Bhutan2015 571
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1550m, October
Bhutan2015 572
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1550m, October

Description

Quercus glauca, the ring-cupped or Japanese blue oak, is one of the most widespread evergreen oaks of East and South Asia. GBIF documents nearly 14,910 occurrences spanning Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Pakistan, with numerous introduced records in Europe and North America. It is a dominant or co-dominant of subtropical and warm-temperate broadleaved evergreen forest, frequently on hill slopes, ravines and along watercourses at low to mid elevations. The photographed tree grew in Bhutan along the Mo-Chu at 1550 m in October, a typical mid-montane riparian situation within the species' Himalayan range.

It is an evergreen tree with smooth greyish bark and alternate, coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate leaves whose upper half is conspicuously serrate while the lower margin is entire; the lamina is glossy dark green above and glaucous, often whitish-waxy and pubescent beneath, giving the species its epithet. Young shoots are silky-villous. As a member of subgenus Cerris, section Cyclobalanopsis, it bears its acorns in a distinctive cupule formed of concentric, ring-like fused bracts rather than separate scales; the ovoid nut ripens in a single season. Flowers are unisexual, the staminate in slender pendent catkins, the pistillate few in short spikes.

GBIF accepts the name. Its placement in section Cyclobalanopsis, sometimes treated as a separate genus, unites the Asian ring-cupped oaks. Quercus glauca is an important timber and afforestation tree, widely planted and naturalised, and ecologically central to evergreen oak forests. It is abundant and assessed as of least conservation concern.

Author: Thunb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, monograph of Asian Quercus (Cyclobalanopsis)

Araceae

Remusatia pumila

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) H.Li & A.Hay

Bhutan2012 715
Bhutan Galephu 850m, October
Nepal 1994 228 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola 1900m April 

Description

Remusatia pumila (D.Don) H.Li & A.Hay is a small tuberous aroid of the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burmese region, documented by about 269 records spanning India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, with naturalised reports elsewhere. It grows as a lithophyte and epiphyte on mossy rocks, boulders and tree trunks in humid broad-leaved and subtropical forest, favouring shaded, seepage-moistened microsites. The cited gatherings from Galephu in southern Bhutan at 850 m in October and the Mewa Khola of East Nepal at 1900 m in April reflect its span across the warm-temperate to subtropical foothill belt.

The plant is a diminutive geophyte arising from a small subglobose tuber that produces clusters of bulbil-bearing structures. The leaves are few, with slender petioles and ovate to ovate-cordate, peltate or sagittate blades. As in all Remusatia, vegetative reproduction is conspicuous: erect to spreading bulbiliferous shoots bear numerous hooked, scale-covered bulbils that detach and disperse epizoochorously. The inflorescence is a spathe enclosing a spadix with basal female and upper male flower zones separated by sterile flowers; flowering is comparatively infrequent relative to the prolific bulbil production.

The species was long placed in Gonatanthus, a genus now subsumed within Remusatia, the combination reflecting molecular and morphological reassessment of the tribe Colocasieae. Reliance on hooked bulbils for dispersal by passing animals is a key adaptation to its epilithic and epiphytic, often ephemerally exposed habitats. Widespread and locally frequent, it is not considered threatened, though its dependence on undisturbed humid forest links its persistence to lowland and submontane habitat integrity.

Author: (D.Don) H.Li & A.Hay · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Araceae of the Indian subcontinent / monograph of Remusatia and Colocasieae

Araceae

Remusatia vivipara

by GP Jürgens

(Roxb.) Schott

Bhutan2015 106 1
Bhutan Galephug 600m, October
Nepal 1994 223 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola 1900m April 

Description

Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott is a widespread tuberous aroid of the Old World tropics, the most broadly distributed member of its genus, with nearly 790 records spanning the Himalaya and India, China and Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia, tropical Africa and Madagascar, and Arabia, plus naturalised occurrences elsewhere. It is chiefly an epiphyte and lithophyte on mossy tree trunks, cliffs and boulders in humid forest, descending into shaded ravines and persisting in disturbed semi-shade. The cited gatherings from Galephug in southern Bhutan at 600 m in October and the Mewa Khola of East Nepal at 1900 m in April span its lowland-to-submontane range.

The plant grows from a small depressed-globose tuber that gives rise annually to one or few leaves and to the conspicuous bulbiliferous shoots characteristic of the genus. The leaf blade is ovate to ovate-cordate and peltate, on a long sheathing petiole. Dispersal is dominated by erect, spike-like bulbil-bearing axes densely set with small, scale-covered bulbils armed with recurved hooks that catch on the fur and feathers of passing animals. Flowering, where it occurs, produces a spathe with a basal convolute tube and expanded limb, subtending a spadix with separate female and male zones; sexual reproduction is much less frequent than vegetative propagation.

The extraordinary pantropical range of R. vivipara is largely attributable to this epizoochorous bulbil dispersal, supplemented by human movement of ornamental and tuber stock. Its placement in Colocasieae, near Colocasia and Gonatanthus, has been confirmed by molecular work. The species is common, ecologically plastic and locally weedy, and is of no conservation concern; in cultivation it is valued as a curious bulbil-producing aroid.

Author: (Roxb.) Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, monograph of Remusatia and tribe Colocasieae

Araceae

Rhaphidophora decursiva

by G & P Jürgens

(Roxb.) Schott

Sikkim 2006 487 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Ruigi-Chu 1800m, May
Bhutan2015 147
Bhutan Galephug 800m, October

Description

Rhaphidophora decursiva ((Roxb.) Schott) is a robust root-climbing aroid widely distributed across tropical and subtropical Asia, ranging from the eastern Himalaya and northeast India through Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and southern China to Sri Lanka and the Malay region. The roughly 700 GBIF records confirm a strong concentration in the Indo-Burmese hill forests. It is a hemiepiphyte of humid evergreen and semi-evergreen broad-leaved forest, climbing tree trunks and clambering over rocks in shaded, moist ravines from near sea level to about 2,000 m. The cited material from Ruigi-Chu in West Bengal at 1,800 m in May and from Galephug, Bhutan, at 800 m in October illustrates its wide altitudinal amplitude across the Himalayan foothills.

The plant produces stout, scandent stems that cling by abundant clasping adventitious roots, the internodes green to brownish and somewhat flattened against the support. The leaves are large and long-petiolate, the lamina ovate-oblong in juveniles but becoming deeply pinnatifid in adults, divided almost to the midrib into numerous decurrent segments that give the species its epithet. The inflorescence is a cylindrical spadix subtended by a thick, boat-shaped, yellowish to greenish spathe; the flowers are bisexual and naked, lacking a perianth, and the infructescence ripens into a dense cluster of berries.

The genus Rhaphidophora belongs to the tribe Monstereae and is distinguished from the Neotropical Monstera by its Old World distribution and bisexual flowers. R. decursiva is among the most widespread members of the genus and shows considerable leaf heteroblasty between juvenile shingling and mature pinnatifid stages. Locally the plant is used in traditional medicine and is occasionally grown as a foliage ornamental. It is common and not regarded as threatened.

Author: (Roxb.) Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 23, Boyce & Croat: The Überlist of Araceae (Monstereae)

Araceae

Rhaphidophora glauca

by GP Jürgens

(Wall.) Schott

Bhutan2015 214
Bhutan Zhemgang 1000m, October

Description

Rhaphidophora glauca (Wall.) Schott is a root-climbing aroid of the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burmese region, recorded from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh; the GBIF total of about 195 occurrences reflects its frequent presence in humid subtropical and lower montane forest. It grows as a hemiepiphytic liana ascending tree trunks and rock faces in moist broad-leaved evergreen forest, broadly between 600 and 1800 m. The photographed plant from Zhemgang in central Bhutan at about 1000 m, in October, typifies its occurrence in the shaded, humid foothill forest of southern Bhutan, clinging by adventitious roots to mossy bark.

The species is a robust, evergreen, root-climbing hemiepiphyte with stout, terete, green to glaucous stems bearing clasping adventitious roots at the nodes. The leaves are alternate, large, ovate to oblong with an obliquely cordate to unequal base, often glaucous beneath as the epithet implies, the petiole sheathing and geniculate near the apex. The inflorescence is a solitary, axillary spadix subtended by a thick, boat-shaped, caducous spathe; the flowers are small, bisexual and naked, densely covering the cylindrical spadix in the manner of the Monstereae. The fruit is a fleshy, many-seeded berry crowded along the infructescence, the seeds bearing the curved raphide-laden tissue characteristic of the genus.

Rhaphidophora (Araceae, tribe Monstereae) is a palaeotropical genus of root-climbing aroids closely allied to Epipremnum and Monstera and distinguished by its raphide-bearing seeds and shuttlecock-like spathe. R. glauca is the principal Himalayan representative, recognised by its glaucous, oblique-based leaves. As a widespread, tolerant forest liana it is of no conservation concern, though as a hemiepiphyte it depends on intact forest structure; it is occasionally grown as a foliage ornamental and used locally in folk medicine.

Author: (Wall.) Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of British India, Boyce & Croat — The Überlist of Araceae and Monstereae studies

Araceae

Rhaphidophora hookeri

by GP Jürgens

Schott

Bhutan2012 769
Bhutan Zemgang 1500m, October

Description

Rhaphidophora hookeri is a robust root-climbing aroid of the warm-temperate and subtropical broad-leaved forests of the eastern Himalaya and northern Indochina. GBIF occurrences place it across China, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Bhutan, Laos, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, with around 253 records reflecting its sparse but wide montane distribution. It is a hemiepiphyte of humid, shaded forest, ascending tree trunks and rock faces by adventitious clasping roots in evergreen ravines and along stream margins. The photographed plant from Zemgang in central Bhutan at 1500 m, recorded in October, is typical of the mid-elevation foothill forests where the species favours high atmospheric humidity, deep shade and moss-covered substrates.

It is a perennial climber with thick, fleshy stems that adhere closely to the support, the internodes marked by prominent scars and bearing dense feeding roots. The leaves are large, glossy and entire to obliquely ovate-elliptic, the petioles geniculate and sheathing at the base. The inflorescence is a cylindrical spadix subtended by a thick, deciduous, boat-shaped spathe; the flowers are bisexual and naked, lacking a perianth, densely packed over the spadix. The fruit is a fleshy syncarp of berries, releasing numerous small seeds at maturity.

The genus Rhaphidophora comprises some hundred species of palaeotropical climbing aroids, distinguished within the Monstereae by their bisexual flowers and the absence of a perianth. R. hookeri, named in honour of J. D. Hooker, is one of the few representatives reaching the Himalayan region. Like related climbing aroids it shows marked heteroblastic development, juvenile shingle-leaved shoots differing strongly from the adult climbing stems, an adaptation to the vertical microhabitats of dense forest interiors.

Author: Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Araceae), Revision of Rhaphidophora (Boyce, Araceae monographs)