Tag:

Autumn

Asteraceae

Saussurea leontodontoides

by GP Jürgens

(DC.) Sch.Bip.

Garw 2005 104 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Gaushon 3200m, September
Nepal 95 160 P261 ergebnis
Nepal South of Rupina La October

Description

Saussurea leontodontoides is a widespread high-alpine composite of the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau, distributed through China, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan and well documented with some 683 GBIF records. It colonises stony alpine slopes, screes, gravelly pastures and open turf, generally between about 3000 and 5000 m. The cited material from Garhwal at Gaushon (3200 m, September) and from south of the Rupina La in Nepal (October) illustrates its broad longitudinal range and its late-summer to autumn flowering, when the rosettes persist on exposed, well-drained substrates baked by intense montane sun and chilled by night frosts.

The plant is a low, more or less stemless perennial herb forming a flat basal rosette from a stout, often woody taproot. The leaves, evoking those of Leontodon as the epithet implies, are oblanceolate in outline and deeply pinnatifid to runcinate, with the surfaces frequently grey-tomentose, and they spread radially against the ground. The capitula are sessile or shortly stalked at the rosette centre, solitary or few, with imbricate, often purple-tinged involucral bracts. The florets are all tubular (discoid) and purple to pink-purple, characteristic of the genus, and the cypselae bear a feathery, plumose pappus aiding wind dispersal.

Saussurea belongs to tribe Cardueae of the Asteraceae, and S. leontodontoides sits among the cushion- and rosette-forming alpine snow-line species adapted to extreme cold, desiccation and high irradiance. Its tap-rooted, ground-hugging habit and woolly indumentum are classic alpine survival traits. Pollination is by alpine insects, and the plumed achenes disperse readily on mountain winds. The species is common and not of conservation concern, though, like related Saussurea, it may be gathered locally for traditional medicinal use.

Author: (DC.) Sch.Bip. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Asteraceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lipschitz Saussurea monograph

Asteraceae

Saussurea simpsoniana

by GP Jürgens

(Fielding & Gardner) Lipsch.

Garw 2005 337 ergebnis
India Garhwal Bagubas 4150m, October
Garw 2005 336 ergebnis
India Garhwal Bagubas 4150m, October

Description

Saussurea simpsoniana is a high-alpine cushion thistle of the Himalaya and adjacent ranges. GBIF documents it from Nepal, India, China, Pakistan and Bhutan, with around 260 occurrences concentrated along the main Himalayan axis. It inhabits open stony slopes, screes, glacial moraines and alpine turf, typically between 4000 and 5500 m, often in the uppermost zone where vascular plant life thins out. The collection figured here was made at Bagubas in Garhwal, northern India, at 4150 m in October, late in the alpine season when the plant persists as a dense persistent rosette.

It forms a compact, stemless or short-stemmed perennial with a thick taproot and a rosette of oblanceolate, white-woolly leaves. The capitula are aggregated into a dense terminal cluster nestled among the leaves and enveloped by long, dense, silky-white lanate hairs that form a protective woolly mass. Individual florets are tubular and purple, with bristly pappus; the involucral bracts are concealed within the wool. This dense indumentum, characteristic of the snowball saussureas, traps heat and shelters the developing achenes from intense ultraviolet radiation, desiccation and frost.

The species belongs to Saussurea subgenus Amphilaena, the woolly snowball group whose adaptations to extreme altitude have made them classic subjects of alpine ecophysiology. The woolly bracts elevate floral temperatures and attract the few high-altitude pollinators active in this environment. Widely collected for Tibetan and Ayurvedic medicine, several relatives in this group face harvesting pressure; although S. simpsoniana is not formally assessed as threatened, its restricted high-elevation habitat warrants monitoring under warming alpine climates.

Author: (Fielding & Gardner) Lipsch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, A revision of the genus Saussurea (Asteraceae: Cardueae)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga brachypoda

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Bhutan2012 70
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 246
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 497
Bhutan Pele-La, 3100m September
Bhutan2012 897
Bhutan Tumching-La, 3850m September
Bhutan2012 70
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 496
Bhutan Pele-La, 3100m September
Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga diversifolia

by GP Jürgens

Wall. & Ser.

Nepal 95 134 P227 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3600m October
Bhutan2012 501
Bhutan Pele-La 3100m, September
Bhutan2012 500
Bhutan Wangdi 3100m, September

Description

Saxifraga diversifolia Wall. & Ser. is a Sino-Himalayan alpine herb with GBIF recording 742 occurrences across China, Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bhutan and Pakistan. It is a plant of subalpine and alpine meadows, open slopes, shrubberies and damp grassy banks, typically growing between about 3000 and 4500 m. The cited collections — south of the Rupien La in Nepal at 3600 m in October, and from the Pele-La and Wangdi areas of Bhutan around 3100 m in September — show its broad occurrence through the central and eastern Himalaya and its autumn flowering at the close of the monsoon season.

The species is a tufted perennial arising from a short rhizome, with erect, leafy flowering stems. As the epithet diversifolia implies, the foliage is dimorphic: the basal leaves are long-petiolate with cordate to reniform blades, whereas the cauline leaves are progressively sessile and amplexicaul, clasping the stem. The inflorescence is a terminal cyme of several yellow flowers; each flower has five spreading petals, ten stamens, and a bicarpellate, partly inferior ovary. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the divergent styles to release numerous small seeds.

Within the very large genus Saxifraga, this species is placed in the yellow-flowered section Hirculus, a predominantly Asian alpine group well represented in the Himalaya and on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Several Himalayan species of this section are morphologically close and have been variously circumscribed. The species is pollinated by alpine insects and is not considered threatened, being locally common across its extensive montane range, where it forms part of the diverse high-elevation meadow flora of the eastern Himalaya.

Author: Wall. & Ser. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Webb & Gornall monograph of Saxifrages

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga filicaulis

by GP Jürgens

Wall. & Ser.

Bhutan2012 916 ergebnis
Bhutan Tumching-La 4100m, October
Bhutan2012 917 ergebnis
Bhutan Tumching-La 4100m, October

Description

Saxifraga filicaulis is a Himalayan saxifrage distributed across China, India, Nepal and Bhutan, well represented in GBIF with about 328 occurrences. It is a plant of the alpine and upper subalpine zone, inhabiting moist rock ledges, mossy slopes, streamsides, screes and turfy banks, broadly between about 3000 and 4500 m. The record from the Tumching-La in Bhutan at 4100 m in October reflects its presence near high passes and its late-season persistence, where snowmelt seepage and cool, humid conditions favour these small rosette and mat-forming herbs.

It is a slender perennial whose specific epithet, "filicaulis" (thread-stemmed), describes its fine, wiry, often trailing or decumbent stems that root at the nodes and form loose mats. The leaves are small, the lower ones petiolate and the upper sessile, ovate to oblong, sometimes shortly ciliate. The flowers are borne singly or in few-flowered cymes on slender stalks; each has five free, spreading, usually yellow petals, often dotted with orange or reddish flecks, five sepals, ten stamens and a half-inferior ovary of two carpels with two short styles. The fruit is a beaked capsule splitting between the divergent styles.

Saxifraga is a large genus centred on the cold mountains of the Northern Hemisphere, with a notable secondary diversification in the Sino-Himalaya where sectional complexes such as the yellow-flowered Ciliatae are richly developed. S. filicaulis belongs to this Himalayan radiation, its stoloniferous, mat-forming habit being an effective strategy for colonising unstable, moist alpine substrates. It is widespread and not of conservation concern.

Author: Wall. & Ser. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Saxifraga monograph (Gornall / Pan)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga hispidula

by G & P Jürgens

D.Don

Bhutan2012 236
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 4000m September

Description

Saxifraga hispidula D.Don is a small alpine herb of the Himalaya and southern China, recorded from China, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar, with around 460 GBIF occurrences. It grows on damp rock ledges, mossy cliffs, boulder crevices, stream banks and shaded alpine turf, mostly between about 3000 and 4500 m. It was recorded in Bhutan in the Haa (Haar) Valley at 4000 m in September, a high alpine setting where it occupies moist, sheltered niches among rocks at the end of the growing season when the autumn-flowering shoots are conspicuous.

It is a delicate, trailing to ascending perennial forming loose mats, the slender stems clothed in spreading hispid or glandular hairs, as the epithet hispidula indicates, and frequently producing thread-like stolons or runners that root at the nodes. The leaves are small, orbicular to obovate, crenate to few-lobed at the apex, and likewise hairy. The flowers are solitary or few in lax cymes; the five free petals are yellow, often spotted with orange or red toward the base, alternating with the calyx lobes, surrounding ten stamens and a bicarpellate ovary. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the persistent styles to shed numerous minute seeds.

Within the immense genus Saxifraga, S. hispidula belongs to section Irregulares (Diptera), a Sino-Himalayan group of stoloniferous, spotted-flowered species adapted to moist montane and alpine rock habitats. Its trailing runners allow vegetative spread across damp substrates, complementing seed dispersal, and the spotted petals serve as insect nectar guides. The species is widespread within its altitudinal band and not considered threatened, though it is restricted to specialised high-elevation microhabitats sensitive to alpine warming.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Saxifraga monograph (Webb & Gornall, Saxifrages of Europe; Pan revision of Asian Saxifraga)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga parnassifolia

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Bhutan2012 49
Bhutan Chele-La 3800m, September
Bhutan2015 485
Bhutan Chele-La 3800m, September
Bhutan2015 486
Bhutan, Pele-La 3000m, October
Nepal 95 129 P221 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3200m October

Description

Saxifraga parnassifolia is a Himalayan saxifrage distributed from Nepal through Sikkim and the adjoining Indian hills into Bhutan and southern Tibet (China), with GBIF recording 208 occurrences across NP, CN, IN and BT. It grows on damp rock ledges, mossy banks, cliff faces and shaded humid slopes in the upper temperate to subalpine zone, broadly between about 3000 and 4000 m. The photographed populations were documented in Bhutan at Chele-La (3800 m, September) and Pele-La (3000 m, October) and in Nepal south of the Rupien La (3200 m, October), reflecting a notably late, autumn flowering period for the species.

The plant is a perennial herb forming small tufts from a short rootstock. As the epithet parnassifolia suggests, its basal leaves resemble those of Parnassia: they are ovate to cordate, long-petiolate, entire or slightly toothed, and somewhat fleshy, clustered in a rosette. The flowering stems are erect and bear a lax, few- to several-flowered cyme. Each flower has five free sepals, five spreading white to greenish or pinkish petals, ten stamens, and a half-inferior ovary of two carpels united below and produced into two divergent styles. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the styles to release numerous minute seeds.

Within the large genus Saxifraga, the species is placed in section Mesogyne/Cymbalaria allies of the broad-leaved Himalayan rosette saxifrages, distinguished by its Parnassia-like foliage and autumnal anthesis. As a chasmophyte of moist montane rock it indicates humid, sheltered microhabitats. It is locally frequent across its Himalayan range and is not considered threatened, though its cliff and ledge habitats are naturally restricted.

Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Saxifragaceae)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga serrula

by G & P Jürgens

Harry Sm.

Bhutan2015 386
  Bhutan Tumching-La 3900m, October

Description

Saxifraga serrula is a high-alpine saxifrage of the eastern Himalaya, documented from Nepal, Bhutan and northern Myanmar, with a small body of records (c. 12 in GBIF) reflecting both its restricted range and the remoteness of its terrain. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, growing among damp rock crevices, on moist screes, turfy ledges and seepage slopes, generally between about 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed individual from Tumching-La in Bhutan, at 3900 m and still in flower in October, exemplifies its tolerance of late-season cold at the margins of the snowbed environment.

The species is a small, perennial, cushion- or rosette-forming herb arising from a branched caudex, the foliage frequently forming low, compact tufts. The leaves are crowded in basal rosettes, oblanceolate to spathulate, and conspicuously serrate to serrulate along the margins—a feature reflected in the epithet—often somewhat fleshy and glabrous to sparsely glandular. The flowering stems are short and few-flowered, bearing actinomorphic flowers with five free, spreading petals (yellow to cream, sometimes red-dotted), five sepals, ten stamens, and a semi-inferior to inferior ovary of two carpels. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule dehiscing between the persistent styles.

Saxifraga is a very large, predominantly arctic-alpine genus, and the Sino-Himalayan region is one of its principal centres of diversification, with numerous narrowly endemic species concentrated in sections adapted to high elevations. Saxifraga serrula belongs to this radiation of eastern Himalayan alpines. Its narrow distribution and specialised habitat make it potentially vulnerable to climate-driven upward shifts of the alpine zone, although it has not been formally assessed; populations appear naturally fragmented across isolated high passes and ridges.

Author: Harry Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Saxifrages of the World (Webb & Gornall)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga strigosa

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Ser.

Bhutan2012 499
Bhutan Pele-La 3100m, September
Bhutan2012 888
Bhutan Ura 3200m, October
Bhutan2012 890
Bhutan Ura 3200m, October

Description

Saxifraga strigosa is a Sino-Himalayan herb distributed through China (including Xizang and Yunnan), Nepal, Bhutan, the Indian Himalaya and northern Myanmar, with several hundred georeferenced records. It occupies cool, damp temperate to subalpine habitats, growing on shaded mossy banks, rock ledges, streamsides and moist forest floors. In Bhutan it has been recorded at Pele-La around 3100 m in September and at Ura near 3200 m in October, its late-season flowering coinciding with the post-monsoon period in well-watered montane terrain.

The plant is a slender annual or short-lived perennial herb with weak, often reddish, strigose-hairy stems that may root at the lower nodes. The basal and lower leaves are petiolate with ovate to orbicular, coarsely toothed or shallowly lobed blades, becoming smaller and sessile upward. The inflorescence is a lax, few- to several-flowered cyme of small flowers on filiform pedicels. Each flower has five spreading, reflexed sepals, five white petals frequently marked with yellow basal spots and reddish dots, ten stamens with clavate filaments, and a bicarpellate ovary that is half-inferior. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the divergent styles to release numerous minute seeds.

Saxifraga is a large, predominantly arctic-alpine genus, and S. strigosa belongs to the small-flowered annual element formerly placed in section Diptera (genus Hydatica of some authors). It was described by Seringe from Wallich's collections. Adapted to ephemeral moist microhabitats, it relies on small insects for pollination and on abundant seed for persistence. Common and widespread across the eastern Himalaya, it is of no particular conservation concern.

Author: Wall. ex Ser. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Gornall's classification of Saxifraga (Saxifragaceae)

Schoepfiaceae

Schoepfia fragrans

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bhutan2015 296
Bhutan Zhemgang 910, October

Description

Schoepfia fragrans is a small tree or shrub of subtropical and tropical Asia, distributed across SW China, NE India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and continental Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea), with GBIF recording some 464 occurrences. It grows in evergreen and semi-evergreen broadleaved forest and forest margins at low to moderate elevations. The photographed plant from Zhemgang in south-central Bhutan at 910 m (October) typifies its occurrence in the warm subtropical hill forest of the southern Himalayan foothills.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree with alternate, simple, entire, leathery ovate to lanceolate leaves that are acuminate and glabrous, with the lateral veins faint or obscure. The flowers are small, fragrant as the epithet records, and borne in short axillary spikes or racemes; the perianth is a tubular, funnel-shaped corolla with short recurved lobes, the stamens adnate to the corolla tube, and the ovary partly inferior, sunk in a fleshy disc. The fruit is a small ellipsoid drupe crowned by the persistent perianth remains and partly enclosed by the accrescent calyx.

Schoepfia was long placed in Olacaceae but is now segregated, with its relatives, into the family Schoepfiaceae (as given here) within the sandalwood order Santalales, a placement supported by molecular phylogenetics. Members of the order are characteristically hemiparasitic, and Schoepfia is understood to be a root hemiparasite drawing on neighbouring woody hosts while remaining photosynthetic. As a widespread forest species it is not of conservation concern, though it depends on the persistence of intact subtropical broadleaved forest.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 5, Nickrent: Santalales (Schoepfiaceae) phylogeny and classification