Tag:

Bhutan

Flowers of Bhutan — 1326 plant species documented across the Bhutanese Himalaya, from dense broadleaf and conifer forests to alpine scrub and meadows. Bhutan’s largely intact wilderness shelters an exceptional diversity of orchids, rhododendrons, primulas and Himalayan poppies, many of them regional endemics. Each species page includes a botanical description, distribution, habitat and flowering time, with the original photograph and its recorded altitude and locality.

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)

Caryophyllaceae

Silene nigrescens

by GP Jürgens

(Edgew.) Majumdar

Sikkim2003 215 G299
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August
Sikkim2003 216 P300
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August

Description

Silene nigrescens is an alpine campion of the Himalaya and adjacent mountains, ranging across China, Nepal, India and Bhutan and into Myanmar; GBIF records about 410 occurrences concentrated in the eastern and central Himalaya. It grows in high alpine meadows, grassy slopes, screes and stony pastures, generally between about 3500 and 4800 m. The illustrated plant was photographed at Dzongri in Sikkim at around 3900 m in August, during the monsoon flowering season when these dark-flowered campions colour the short turf of the eastern Himalayan uplands above the rhododendron scrub.

The species is a perennial herb growing from a slender, branched rootstock, forming low tufts of ascending to erect stems that are often glandular-hairy above. The leaves are opposite, sessile, narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, the lower ones crowded near the base. The flowers are nodding and few, with an inflated, ten-nerved, often dark-purple to nearly blackish calyx that gives the species its name; the petals are dingy purple to brownish with a bilobed limb and a small ligulate scale at the throat. The flower has three styles, and the capsule dehisces by six teeth, releasing numerous reniform seeds.

Described as (Edgew.) Majumdar from an Edgeworth basionym, Silene nigrescens belongs to the high-alpine, dark-calyx group of Himalayan Silene whose species limits are notoriously difficult owing to variation in vestiture and flower colour. Its broad eastern-Himalayan to southwest Chinese distribution makes it secure, and it forms part of the characteristic flora of monsoon-influenced alpine meadows, pollinated mainly by insects drawn to its sombre nodding flowers.

Author: (Edgew.) Majumdar · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Bocquet: Revision of Himalayan Silene

Caryophyllaceae

Silene purii

by GP Jürgens

Bocquet & N.P.Saxena

Sikkim2003 259 P357
Sikkim Dzongri 4200m, August

Description

Silene purii is a narrowly distributed high-alpine herb of the eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF only from Bhutan, with just four occurrences and closely allied populations extending into adjacent Sikkim. It occupies open turf, rocky slopes, moraine and grassy hollows above the treeline, generally between about 3900 and 4500 m. The illustrated plant was photographed at Dzongri in Sikkim at roughly 4200 m in August, during the brief monsoon flowering season when these tufted campions exploit the short, cool growing window of the eastern Himalayan summits.

The species is a perennial herb forming low tufts from a branched woody rootstock. The stems are short, ascending and often glandular-pubescent, bearing opposite, narrowly lanceolate to linear, somewhat fleshy leaves crowded toward the base. The flowers are few, terminal and shortly stalked; the calyx is tubular to inflated, ten-nerved and frequently purplish, while the petals are pink to purple with a bilobed or notched limb and a small scale at the throat. The ovary bears three styles and matures into a capsule dehiscing by six apical teeth, releasing numerous reniform seeds.

Named for its collector, Silene purii (Bocquet & N.P.Saxena) is one of many Himalayan campions whose limits remain poorly understood owing to scant collections and the plasticity of alpine Silene. Its extreme rarity in the herbarium record and restricted known range make it of considerable phytogeographic interest as an eastern Himalayan endemic. The paucity of records suggests it may be genuinely localised and potentially vulnerable, warranting targeted survey and conservation assessment.

Author: Bocquet & N.P.Saxena · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Bocquet: Revision of Silene sect. Physolychnis

Caryophyllaceae

Silene stracheyi

by GP Jürgens

Edgew.

BhutanPG2011 832 01 01
Bhutan Chele-La, 3400m July

Description

Silene stracheyi is a Himalayan campion restricted to the high mountains of India, Bhutan and Nepal, known from only about 17 GBIF records and thus among the more poorly documented members of the genus in the region. It grows in open subalpine and alpine habitats, including rocky slopes, grassy pastures, scrub margins and stony banks, generally between about 3000 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Chele-La in western Bhutan at 3400 m in July, flowering at the height of the monsoon summer, typifies its association with cool, well-drained high-mountain grassland and rock.

It is a perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, with erect to ascending stems that are often glandular-pubescent in the upper parts. The leaves are opposite, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, sessile or shortly stalked and entire. The flowers are borne in a lax cyme; each has the inflated, tubular to campanulate, conspicuously veined calyx characteristic of Silene, within which sit five clawed petals, usually pink to purplish, the limbs notched or bifid and often bearing a small corona at the throat. The stamens and styles are typical of the genus, and the fruit is a capsule dehiscing by apical teeth to scatter the numerous reniform seeds.

Silene is one of the largest genera of Caryophyllaceae, with many narrowly endemic high-alpine species in the Sino-Himalayan region, of which S. stracheyi is one. The tubular calyx and clawed petals reflect adaptation to long-tongued and nocturnal pollinators. Given its small known range and few documented populations, the species warrants conservation attention, as such restricted Himalayan campions are vulnerable to grazing intensification and the upslope shifts driven by a warming climate.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Caryophyllaceae), Bocquet monographic studies of Silene

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

Crassulaceae

Sinocrassula indica

by GP Jürgens

A. Berger

Nepal 99 949 ergebnis
West-Nepal Pamela 2700m, July

Description

Sinocrassula indica is a succulent biennial to short-lived perennial herb distributed through the Sino-Himalayan region, with records from China, India, Nepal and Bhutan and scattered naturalised or cultivated occurrences elsewhere. It grows on dry rocky banks, cliff ledges, stony slopes and walls in the montane belt, typically from about 1500 to 3500 m, rooting in shallow gritty pockets and crevices where competition is slight. The photographed plant comes from Pamela in West Nepal at around 2700 m, flowering in July during the monsoon. With over 650 georeferenced occurrences it is a frequently collected and widely recognised crassulaceous element of the Himalayan foothills and ranges.

The plant produces a basal rosette of fleshy, oblanceolate to spathulate leaves, glabrous or finely papillose, often flushed reddish, from which arises an erect, leafy, sometimes branched inflorescence-bearing stem. The cauline leaves are smaller, sessile and crowded. Flowers are numerous, borne in a dense terminal thyrse of cymes; they are small, with five erect or connivent petals that are greenish-yellow to dull red, scarcely spreading, giving the flower an urn-shaped appearance. There are five stamens, and the carpels are erect with short styles. The fruit is a cluster of follicles releasing fine seeds, after which the monocarpic flowering rosette dies.

Sinocrassula was segregated from Crassula and Sedum on the basis of its erect, barely opening petals and Asian distribution, and S. indica is the most widespread species of the genus. The taxon is morphologically variable in leaf shape and flower colour, and several infraspecific forms have been described. It is occasionally grown by succulent enthusiasts. Being common and ecologically adaptable across a broad range, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: A. Berger · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Crassulaceae of the World (monograph)

Iridaceae

Sisyrinchium angustifolium

by GP Jürgens

Mill.

Bhutan2014 108
Bhutan Trashigang 1550m, May

Description

Sisyrinchium angustifolium, the narrow-leaved blue-eyed grass, is native to eastern North America (US, CA) but is widely naturalised, with more than 15,000 GBIF occurrences extending across western Europe (FR, ES, IE, GB, DE, BE), eastern Asia (KR, JP) and elsewhere. In the Himalaya it occurs as an introduced and locally established plant of damp meadows, lawns, ditches and grassy roadsides. The individual recorded at Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1550 m in May reflects its naturalisation in moist, open, subtropical to warm-temperate grassland, where it flowers in spring on seasonally moist ground.

Despite the common name it is no grass but a tufted perennial of the Iridaceae, forming clumps of narrow, linear, equitant leaves arising in two ranks from a short rhizome. The flowering stems are markedly flattened and conspicuously winged, often branched, and bear terminal clusters of flowers subtended by paired green spathes. Each ephemeral flower has six spreading blue to violet tepals abruptly apiculate with a small terminal mucro, contrasting with a yellow centre; the three stamens have filaments united into a tube around the style. The fruit is a small globose to obovoid loculicidal capsule containing numerous black, rounded seeds.

The species belongs to the large American genus Sisyrinchium and is taxonomically complex, with several allied microspecies and frequent confusion with S. montanum and S. bermudiana. Its flowers open only in sunshine and are bee-pollinated, while prolific seed favours self-establishment in mown swards. Outside its native range it behaves as a benign garden escape.

Author: Mill. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China Vol. 24, The Genus Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae) Monograph

Rutaceae

Skimmia multinervia

by GP Jürgens

C.C. Huang

Bhutan2014 596
Bhutan Phobjika 2400m, May
Nepal 1994 84 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Jaljale Himal
3000m April

Description

Skimmia multinervia is an evergreen shrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent China, with GBIF records (about 294) confined to China and Bhutan but its wider native range extending along the Himalaya into Nepal and northeastern India. It occupies the cool, humid montane and subalpine forest zone, as shown by collections at Phobjika in Bhutan around 2400 m in May and on the Jaljale Himal in eastern Nepal near 3000 m in April. There it grows in the shaded understorey of broad-leaved and conifer forest, among rhododendrons and on mossy slopes, favouring moist, organic-rich, well-drained soils.

The plant is a compact, much-branched aromatic shrub whose foliage releases a pungent citrus scent when crushed, owing to the translucent oil glands typical of Rutaceae. The leaves are alternate, often crowded toward the branch tips, elliptic to oblanceolate, leathery and entire, with the numerous lateral veins to which the epithet refers. The species is functionally dioecious, bearing small whitish to cream flowers in terminal panicles with four to five petals; male and female plants must grow together for fruit to set. The fruit is a fleshy, bright red drupe persisting through the colder months and dispersed by birds.

Skimmia is a small Asian genus within the citrus family, distinguished by its evergreen aromatic habit, dioecy and red drupaceous fruits; its species, including S. multinervia, are valued in temperate horticulture for winter colour. As a forest-understorey shrub dependent on intact, moist montane woodland, it is sensitive to forest clearance and grazing, though across its range it remains locally frequent and is not regarded as globally threatened.

Author: C.C. Huang · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, A Monograph of the Genus Skimmia (Rutaceae)

Smilacaceae

Smilax munita

by G & P Jürgens

S.C.Chen

Sikkim 2006 446 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 2700m, May

Description

Smilax munita is an eastern Himalayan greenbrier distributed from Nepal through Sikkim and West Bengal in India to Bhutan, north-eastern Myanmar and adjacent China, with around 90 GBIF records reflecting a fairly restricted montane range. It is a climber of temperate broad-leaved and mixed forest, forest margins and thickets, scrambling over shrubs and small trees, typically between about 2,000 and 3,000 m. The plant photographed at Kishong in West Bengal, India, at 2,700 m flowering in May is characteristic of the cool, humid Sikkim-Himalayan forest belt where the genus is well represented.

The plant is a dioecious, woody to subwoody perennial climber arising from a creeping rhizome, the stems armed with stout, scattered prickles (reflected in the epithet munita, "armed"). The leaves are alternate, simple, leathery, ovate to elliptic with several prominent arcuate-convergent main veins, and bear a pair of slender tendrils at the base of the petiole that serve for climbing. The flowers are small, unisexual and greenish, borne in axillary umbels; the perianth consists of six tepals, with six stamens in male flowers and a superior three-locular ovary in female flowers. The fruit is a small globose berry, ripening dark, containing few seeds.

Smilax is the sole large genus of the monocot family Smilacaceae, a lineage of vining herbs and lianas with reticulate-veined leaves and basal tendrils unusual among monocots. Many congeners yield the medicinal "sarsaparilla," and Himalayan species are locally used. The combination of prickly stems, coriaceous tri- to multiveined leaves and the high-montane distribution distinguishes S. munita within the eastern Himalayan members of the genus.

Author: S.C.Chen · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, GBIF, Koyama: Smilacaceae of Eastern Asia