Tag:

Autumn

Rosaceae

Sibbaldia cuneifolia

by G & P Jürgens

(Bertol.) Paule & Soják

Bhutan2012 910
Bhutan Tumching-La 4000m, October
Sikkim2011 27
Bhutan Lachen 2800m, June

Description

Sibbaldia cuneifolia (Bertol.) Paule & Soják is a cushion-forming perennial of the high Himalaya and adjoining Central Asian mountains, distributed across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and SW China, with additional records from temperate Europe (Austria, Switzerland, Britain, Sweden, Finland) reflecting both a wide alpine range and naturalised or rock-garden occurrences; the roughly 184 georeferenced collections concentrate in the Sino-Himalayan alpine belt. It inhabits open stony slopes, screes, glacial moraine, alpine turf and the margins of late-melting snowbeds. The species ascends to considerable altitude, as the photographed material from the Tumching-La pass in Bhutan at about 4,000 m in October and from Lachen at 2,800 m in June illustrates, spanning the subalpine to high-alpine zones.

It is a low, mat-forming herb arising from a woody, branched rootstock and slender creeping rhizome. The leaves are trifoliolate and basal in dense rosettes, the obovate-cuneate leaflets wedge-shaped at the base and conspicuously few-toothed at the truncate apex, often somewhat fleshy and sparsely strigose. Short cymes bear small flowers with five green sepals alternating with smaller epicalyx segments, and five minute yellow petals shorter than the calyx; stamens are typically five, and the carpels few, ripening into small dry achenes seated on a dry receptacle.

The genus Sibbaldia is closely allied to Potentilla, into which it is sometimes merged, and the basionym links this taxon to the Potentilla ambigua complex referenced on the source page. Adapted to short growing seasons, intense insolation and frost, these prostrate cushions exemplify alpine stress tolerance. The species is widespread and not considered threatened, though high-altitude populations are sensitive to grazing pressure and climate-driven upslope shifts.

Author: (Bertol.) Paule & Soják · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 9, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Soják: Notes on Potentilla and allied genera (2008)

Malvaceae

Sida acuta

by GP Jürgens

Burm.f.

Bhutan2015 66
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 1800m, October

Description

Sida acuta Burm.f. is a pantropical subshrub of the mallow family, one of the most widespread weeds in warm regions, documented by GBIF in over 23,000 occurrences spanning the Americas (Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, El Salvador, USA), Africa (Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, DR Congo), Asia (India, China, Taiwan, Indonesia) and Australia. It thrives in disturbed ground, roadsides, pastures, fallow fields and waste places from sea level into the subtropical foothills, and was photographed in Bhutan at Wangdi Phodrang at 1800 m in October, near the upper margin of its altitudinal range.

The plant is an erect, much-branched perennial subshrub woody at the base, with tough fibrous stems. The leaves are alternate, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, with a sharply serrate margin and acute apex, and short stipules at the base of the petiole. The flowers are solitary or few in the leaf axils, with a five-lobed calyx and a corolla of five pale yellow to cream petals that open briefly in the morning; the stamens are united into a characteristic staminal column typical of Malvaceae. The schizocarpic fruit splits into several mericarps, each tipped with two short awns aiding epizoochorous dispersal.

Sida acuta is a notorious invasive and agricultural weed, forming dense stands that suppress pasture and crops, and is the target of biological control programmes in northern Australia. Despite its weedy status it yields a strong bast fibre and is used in traditional medicine across its range. Probably of neotropical origin, it has become naturalised throughout the tropics through human activity, and its tolerance of poor soils and disturbance ensures its continued spread.

Author: Burm.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Sida revision (Fryxell, Malvaceae of the World)

Malvaceae

Sida mysorensis

by GP Jürgens

Herb.Madr. ex Wight & Arn.

Bhutan2012 976
Bhutan Trithangebe 1000m, October
Bhutan2012 806 Kopie
Bhutan Trithangebe 1000m, October
also included: Drymaria cordata

Description

Sida mysorensis is an Old World tropical, weakly pantropical weedy herb, GBIF recording some 630 occurrences across South and Southeast Asia (India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia), the Himalayan states (Nepal, Bhutan) and naturalised in the Neotropics (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala). It is a plant of warm low to mid elevations, colonising roadsides, waste ground, fallow fields and forest margins. The Bhutanese record from Trithangebe at about 1000 m, flowering in October beside Drymaria cordata, is characteristic of its association with humid, weedy subtropical foothills after the monsoon.

It is an erect to ascending annual or short-lived perennial herb or subshrub, 30–120 cm tall, the stems and foliage softly pubescent to stellate-tomentose and often viscid. The leaves are alternate, ovate to cordate, crenate-serrate and stipulate. Flowers are small, solitary or few in the leaf axils; the corolla is yellow to pale orange, of five obovate petals around a staminal column typical of Malvaceae. The fruit is a schizocarp of several reticulate mericarps, each usually bearing short apical awns aiding dispersal.

Described from a Madras herbarium specimen by Wight and Arnott, S. mysorensis belongs to the large, taxonomically complex genus Sida, in which softly hairy, axillary-flowered species are frequently confused. It is of no conservation concern, being a widespread ruderal and minor agricultural weed, and like many Sida species has been used in folk medicine and as a bast fibre. Ecologically it is an early colonist of disturbed tropical ground.

Author: Herb.Madr. ex Wight & Arn. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Malvaceae of the World (Bayer & Kubitzki treatment)

Malvaceae

Sida rhombifolia

by G & P Jürgens

L.

Bhutan2012 804
Bhutan Zemgang 1950m, October

Description

Sida rhombifolia L. is a near-cosmopolitan subshrub of tropical and warm-temperate regions, one of the most widely distributed weeds in the Malvaceae. GBIF documents over 50,000 records from every inhabited continent — Australia, the Americas (USA, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador), Africa (South Africa, Cameroon, DR Congo), and Asia including China, India, Taiwan and Japan. In the Himalaya it occurs on roadsides, fallow fields, waste ground and open slopes; the photographed plant is from Bhutan, Zemgang, 1,950 m, in October. It thrives on disturbed, well-drained soils from sea level to around 2,000 m and is a pioneer of ruderal and pastoral habitats.

The plant is an erect, much-branched perennial subshrub 30–100 cm tall with tough, fibrous stems bearing stellate to simple appressed hairs. Leaves are alternate, shortly petiolate, rhombic to lanceolate (rhombifolia), 1.5–5 cm long, serrate in the upper half, entire toward the cuneate base, paler and pubescent beneath. Flowers are solitary in the leaf axils on slender, jointed pedicels, the corolla pale yellow to orange-yellow, 5–10 mm across, with five obovate petals; the staminal column is characteristic of the family. The schizocarpic fruit is a flattened ring of 8–12 mericarps, each with two short apical awns.

A polymorphic and taxonomically complex aggregate, S. rhombifolia has yielded numerous infraspecific taxa and segregates. The stem yields a strong bast fibre used for cordage and brooms, and the plant is widely employed in traditional medicine. Owing to its weedy vigour it is naturalised and sometimes invasive far beyond its presumed Old World tropical origin.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 12, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Borssum Waalkes: Malesian Malvaceae revised (Blumea)

Caryophyllaceae

Silene indica var. bhutanica

by GP Jürgens

(W.W. Sm.) Bocquet

Bhutan2012 276
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 277
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September

Description

Silene indica var. bhutanica is a campion of the high Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, Bhutan, India and adjacent China. It occupies alpine and upper subalpine habitats, growing on open grassy slopes, stony pastures, screes and rocky ground in the high mountains, generally between about 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant comes from the Shele-La in Bhutan at around 4000 m, flowering in September towards the close of the monsoon season. With only eighteen georeferenced records this variety is sparsely documented, in keeping with its restricted eastern Himalayan range and the difficulty of access to its high-altitude habitats.

It is an erect to ascending perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, the stems usually several, simple or sparingly branched and often glandular-pubescent above. The leaves are opposite, linear-lanceolate to oblong, sessile or shortly stalked, with entire ciliate margins. The flowers are borne in a lax cymose inflorescence; each has a tubular, inflated and prominently 10-veined calyx, often glandular and tinged purple, enclosing the claws of the petals. The five petals are pink to purplish, the limb bifid or notched and bearing a small scaly corona at the throat. There are ten stamens and three styles, characteristic of the genus, and the fruit is a capsule dehiscing by apical teeth and shedding numerous reniform seeds.

Silene is the largest genus of Caryophyllaceae, and var. bhutanica is distinguished within the variable S. indica complex by features of indumentum, calyx and petal form, its delimitation depending on revisionary treatment of Himalayan Silene. Given its narrow range and few records, its conservation status is poorly known; restricted high-alpine taxa of this kind are potentially vulnerable to grazing and climatic shifts.

Author: (W.W. Sm.) Bocquet · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Bocquet's revisions of Asian Silene

Caryophyllaceae

Silene indica var. edgeworthii 

by G & P Jürgens

(Bocquet) Y.J.Nasir

Garw 2005 312 ergebnis
India Garhwal Bagubas 3800m, October

Description

Silene indica var. edgeworthii is a western Himalayan campion recorded from Pakistan, India and Nepal, known from a small set of around 18 georeferenced occurrences that together delimit a fairly narrow distribution along the inner ranges. It is a plant of open, high-elevation habitats, favouring alpine and subalpine meadows, stony slopes, grassy hollows and the margins of moraines where snowmelt provides seasonal moisture. The individual illustrated near Bagubas in Garhwal (India) at about 3800 m in October exemplifies this affinity for the upper alpine zone, where it flowers and fruits late in the growing season as the surrounding turf begins to senesce. According to GBIF, the name carries a SYNONYM status, with Silene indica edgeworthii treated as the accepted name.

It is a perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, producing erect to ascending stems that are often glandular-pubescent in the upper parts. The leaves are opposite and entire, the basal ones spathulate to oblanceolate and the cauline pairs narrower and sessile. The flowers are borne in a lax, few-flowered cyme; each is subtended by a tubular, prominently ten-nerved calyx that is frequently inflated and contracted at the mouth. The five petals are pink to whitish, clawed, and bear a bifid or shallowly lobed limb with a small coronal scale at the throat. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule dehiscing by apical teeth, the seeds reniform and minutely tuberculate.

Within Silene, this taxon belongs to a Himalayan complex in which infraspecific variation in calyx form, indumentum and petal limb has prompted repeated reassessment, hence its fluctuating rank as a variety versus an accepted entity. Its restricted range and dependence on intact alpine grassland make it a useful indicator of high-pasture condition, while heavy summer grazing and trampling along transhumance routes represent the principal pressures on its populations.

Author: (Bocquet) Y.J.Nasir · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Bocquet Revision der Gattung Silene (Caryophyllaceae)

Caryophyllaceae

Silene nepalensis

by GP Jürgens

Majumdar

Bhutan2012 241
Bhutan, Shele-La 4000m, September
Bhutan2012 242
Bhutan, Shele-La 4000m, September

Description

Silene nepalensis is a Himalayan campion distributed from Pakistan through Nepal and northern India to Bhutan and south-central China, the nearly four hundred GBIF records confirming a fairly broad high-montane range across the range. It occupies alpine and subalpine meadows, open stony slopes, rock crevices and the margins of scrub above the forest, where it flowers into the late season. The photographed plant from the Shele-La in Bhutan at 4000 m, flowering in September, illustrates its tolerance of the cold, exposed high passes and its comparatively late, autumn flowering at the upper limits of the alpine zone.

The species is a tufted perennial herb arising from a stout, often woody rootstock and producing several ascending to erect stems. The leaves are opposite, narrowly lanceolate to linear and somewhat ciliate at the margins. The flowers are borne in a lax cyme; the calyx is tubular to clavate, ten-veined and inflated in fruit, while the five petals are clawed with a bifid, white to pinkish limb and a small coronal scale at the throat. The androecium has ten stamens and the ovary three styles; the fruit is a capsule dehiscing by six apical teeth and containing numerous reniform seeds.

Silene nepalensis is an accepted species of the large, taxonomically difficult genus Silene (Caryophyllaceae, tribe Sileneae), where the inflated ten-veined calyx and clawed coronate petals are diagnostic. Its perennating woody base and crevice habit are adaptations to the desiccating winds and shallow soils of the high Himalaya. The species is widespread and not currently regarded as threatened, though its alpine populations are sensitive to grazing pressure and warming-driven range contraction.

Author: Majumdar · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Bocquet & Chowdhuri revision of Himalayan Silene (Caryophyllaceae monograph)

Apiaceae

Sinocarum wolffianum

by GP Jürgens

(Fedde ex H. Wolff) A.K. Mukh. & Constance

Bhutan2012 79
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September

Description

Sinocarum wolffianum is a small alpine umbellifer of the Himalaya and south-western China, recorded from China, northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, a restricted distribution reflected in only about 54 occurrence records. It grows on open alpine meadows, turf, screes and rocky slopes, typically between roughly 3500 and 4500 m. The specimen photographed at Shele-La in Bhutan at about 4000 m in September illustrates its late-season presence in the high alpine zone, where short-statured umbellifers persist among the cushion vegetation.

The plant is a small, slender perennial arising from a tuberous or fusiform root, usually only a few centimetres to about 15 cm tall. The leaves are mostly basal, finely divided (ternately to pinnately dissected) into narrow, linear ultimate segments, on slender petioles sheathing at the base. The inflorescence is a small, lax compound umbel, often lacking or with few bracts and bracteoles; the flowers are minute, with white to pinkish petals and the inferior ovary typical of the family. The fruit is a small, ovoid to oblong schizocarp splitting into two ribbed mericarps.

Sinocarum (Apiaceae, subfamily Apioideae) is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of dwarf alpine umbellifers segregated from Carum and allied genera, and its species circumscription has been revised by workers including Mukherjee and Constance, who established the present combination. The genus is taxonomically intricate, with several narrow-range high-mountain taxa. Pollinated by generalist alpine insects, the mericarps are dispersed passively. As a localised high-elevation endemic of limited known range, it is of biogeographic interest and likely sensitive to climatic change in its alpine habitat.

Author: (Fedde ex H. Wolff) A.K. Mukh. & Constance · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Pimenov & Leonov The Genera of the Umbelliferae

Solanaceae

Solanum betaceum

by GP Jürgens

Cav.

Bhutan2015 313
Bhutan Zhemgang 1650m, October
Bhutan2015 314
Bhutan Zhemgang 1650m, October

Description

Solanum betaceum Cav. (the tamarillo or tree tomato, long known as Cyphomandra betacea) is a small tree native to the Andean region of South America but now cultivated and naturalised pantropically and in warm-temperate areas; GBIF records (about 4,314 occurrences) span Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil in its native range, together with widespread introductions in Europe, Australasia, southern Africa and South Asia. In the Himalaya it is grown and locally escapes in warm mid-elevation valleys; the photographed plant is from Zhemgang in central Bhutan at about 1,650 m, fruiting in October in cultivation on subtropical hill slopes.

It is a fast-growing, soft-wooded shrub or small tree 2-5 m tall with a brittle, sparingly branched trunk. The leaves are large, alternate, ovate-cordate, softly pubescent and pungently scented, with entire margins and a long petiole. The flowers are borne in lateral cymes and are fragrant, with a rotate to shallowly campanulate pale pink to lilac corolla 1-2 cm across and the connivent yellow anthers typical of Solanum. The fruit is a smooth, egg-shaped berry 4-8 cm long, ripening orange-red to deep purplish, with two locules of small flat seeds embedded in tart, jelly-like pulp.

Molecular phylogenetics has subsumed the former genus Cyphomandra within Solanum, where these arborescent species form a distinct clade pollinated by fragrance-collecting bees. S. betaceum is economically important as the tamarillo, cultivated commercially in New Zealand, the Andes and elsewhere for its vitamin-rich fruit. As a domesticated and widely naturalised crop it is of no conservation concern; in some regions it behaves as a minor environmental weed.

Author: Cav. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Solanaceae Source database, Bohs revision of Cyphomandra (Solanum), Flora of Bhutan, Solanaceae treatments in Andean floras

Solanaceae

Solanum viarum

by GP Jürgens

Dunal

Bhutan2015 219
Bhutan Zhemgang 910m, October
Nepal 97 9 P14
Nepal Taplejung 1000m April

Description

Solanum viarum, the tropical soda apple, is native to subtropical South America, notably Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, but is now a widespread invasive weed; the GBIF dataset of roughly 32000 records spans the United States, Australia, South Africa, India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Mexico and the Himalayan countries Nepal and Bhutan. It colonises pastures, roadsides, field margins, waste ground and disturbed forest edges at low to mid elevations, thriving in open, grazed and ruderal habitats. The illustrated material from Zhemgang in Bhutan at 910 m in October and Taplejung in eastern Nepal at 1000 m in April reflects its establishment in the warm subtropical foothills, where it behaves as an aggressive colonist of disturbed ground.

It is a robust erect prickly perennial herb or subshrub 1–2 m tall, the stems, petioles, leaf veins and calyx armed with stout, broad-based yellowish prickles and clothed in stellate hairs. The leaves are alternate, ovate, deeply lobed and sinuate, prickly on both surfaces along the veins. The inflorescence is a small extra-axillary cyme of white, stellate, five-merous flowers with reflexed petals and a cone of connivent yellow anthers. The fruit is a globose berry about 2–3 cm across, mottled green like a tiny melon when immature and ripening pale yellow, containing numerous flattened seeds embedded in juicy pulp.

Solanum viarum belongs to the spiny Leptostemonum clade of Solanum. Its prolific, animal-dispersed berries, toxic to many vertebrates but readily spread by livestock and wildlife, underlie its notoriety as a noxious weed subject to quarantine and biological control in the United States and elsewhere. In the Himalayan foothills it is a naturalised invader rather than a native element, and its spread is monitored as a threat to pasture and native vegetation.

Author: Dunal · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 17, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Solanaceae: A Monograph of Solanum (Solanaceae Source)