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.

Symplocaceae

Symplocos acuminata

by G & P Jürgens

Miq.

Bhutan2015 532
Bhutan Punaka 1400m, October
Bhutan2015 533
Bhutan Punaka 1400m, October

Description

Symplocos acuminata Miq. is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the Symplocaceae, widely distributed across tropical and subtropical Asia. Its substantial GBIF record (over 4,100 occurrences) spans China, Taiwan, India, the Himalaya, Indochina, Sri Lanka, Japan, and the Malesian archipelago, reflecting a broad Indo-Malayan range. The species was recorded near Punakha in Bhutan at 1,400 m in October; it characteristically inhabits broad-leaved evergreen and mixed mesophytic forests, forest margins, and secondary woodland from the lowlands up to around 2,000 m, favouring moist, well-drained slopes.

The plant forms a much-branched crown with coriaceous, alternate leaves that are elliptic to oblong-lanceolate and conspicuously acuminate at the apex, the margins finely serrate and the surfaces glabrous. The flowers are small, white, and fragrant, with numerous stamens arranged in fascicles, borne in short axillary racemes or spikes. The ovary is inferior, developing into an ovoid to ellipsoid drupe that ripens dark blue-black, crowned by the persistent calyx and attractive to frugivorous birds, which act as the principal dispersal agents.

Symplocos is the sole genus of its family and is taxonomically complex, with acuminata representing part of a variable, widely circumscribed species aggregate that has accumulated numerous synonyms across its vast range. Members of the genus are notable for accumulating aluminium, and several have historically been used as natural mordants in dyeing. Given its wide distribution and tolerance of disturbed forest, the species is not considered threatened.

Author: Miq. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Nooteboom: Symplocaceae (Flora Malesiana, 1977)

Symplocaceae

Symplocos glomerata

by GP Jürgens

King ex C.B. Clarke

Bhutan2014 793
Bhutan
Sikkim2004 94 P164
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2700m April
Sikkim2004 329 P530
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2700m April

Description

Symplocos glomerata is an Asian tree distributed from the Himalaya and northern India through Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar into southern China, Taiwan, Indochina and the Malesian region. Its 572 GBIF records span this broad range, indicating a widespread but locally distributed species of evergreen and mixed montane forest. It grows in broadleaved and laurel-dominated forests, on slopes and ridges, typically in the warm-temperate to lower-subtropical montane belt. The plant photographed at Bersay in the Sikkim-West Bengal border region at about 2700 m in April illustrates its occurrence in the moist mid-elevation forests of the Eastern Himalaya, flowering in early spring.

It is a small evergreen tree or shrub with leathery, alternate leaves that are elliptic to oblong, with serrate to crenate margins and a glabrous, glossy upper surface. The flowers are borne in dense, sessile, glomerate clusters in the leaf axils, as the epithet glomerata indicates; each is small, white and fragrant, with a five-lobed corolla and numerous stamens united at the base in fascicles, a characteristic of the genus. The fruit is a small, ovoid to cylindric drupe crowned by the persistent calyx lobes.

Symplocos is the sole genus of the Symplocaceae, distinguished by its polyandrous flowers and aluminium-accumulating tissues; several species, including this one, have been used to yield yellow dyes and mordants. S. glomerata varies considerably across its wide range and has accumulated numerous synonyms and infraspecific names. Widely distributed and ecologically tolerant, it is not regarded as threatened and is a common constituent of Asian montane forest.

Author: King ex C.B. Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Nooteboom Symplocaceae monograph

Symplocaceae

Symplocos lucida

by GP Jürgens

Siebold & Zucc.

Bhutan2015 531
Bhutan Phobjika 2450m, October
Bhutan2015 529
Bhutan Phobjika 2450m, October

Description

Symplocos lucida is a broadly distributed evergreen of eastern and southern Asia, occurring from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan through Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to the Himalayan countries of Nepal, India and Bhutan; its more than 413 GBIF records reflect this wide range, with the United States accessions cultivated or herbarium-based. It grows in evergreen broad-leaved and mixed mid-montane forests, on forest margins and shrubby slopes, generally between about 1500 and 2800 m. The photographed tree at Phobjika in central Bhutan at 2450 m in October illustrates its occurrence in cool, humid temperate forest of the eastern Himalaya.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree with smooth grey bark and glabrous young shoots. The alternate, leathery leaves are elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, glossy (whence lucida) and dark green above, with a serrate to crenate margin and a short petiole. The flowers are small, white and fragrant, borne in short axillary spikes or racemes; each has a five-lobed calyx and corolla and numerous stamens fused in fascicles at the base. The fruit is a small, ovoid to oblong drupe, dark blue-black or purplish when ripe, crowned by the persistent calyx and enclosing a single hard stone.

Symplocos is the sole genus of the Symplocaceae, a pantropical to warm-temperate family of some hundreds of species centred on Asia. S. lucida belongs to a taxonomically complex aggregate, and its leaves and bark have a long history of use as a mordant (aluminium-accumulating) source in natural dyeing. Widespread and ecologically plastic, it is not considered threatened, though its forest habitats face regional pressure from logging and land conversion.

Author: Siebold & Zucc. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Japan, Symplocaceae revision (Nooteboom monograph)

Symplocaceae

Symplocos paniculata

by GP Jürgens

Miq.

Bhutan2014 663
Bhutan Phobjika 2250m, May
Bhutan2014 664
Bhutan Phobjika 2250m, May
Bh2008 58 P96
Bhutan Punakha 2400m, April

Description

Symplocos paniculata is a widely distributed eastern Asian shrub or small tree ranging from the Himalaya (Nepal, Bhutan, northeast India) across China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, with extensive cultivated and naturalised records elsewhere; GBIF documents 9858 occurrences spanning these and many other countries. In the Himalaya it grows in temperate broad-leaved and mixed forests, forest margins, scrub and open hillsides, generally between about 1500 and 2800 m. The photographed plants from Phobjika in Bhutan at 2250 m in May and from Punakha at 2400 m in April show it flowering in spring, when the white, fragrant blossoms appear ahead of full leaf expansion in the temperate Bhutanese valleys.

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree with grey, often lenticellate bark and finely pubescent young twigs. The alternate leaves are elliptic to obovate, acuminate, with a serrulate to crenate-serrate margin and pinnate venation. The fragrant white flowers are borne in terminal and axillary panicles; each flower has a five-lobed calyx, a deeply five-parted corolla and numerous stamens that are basally connate into fascicles, giving the inflorescence a feathery appearance. The fruit is a small ovoid to ellipsoid drupe ripening blue-black to deep blue, crowned by the persistent calyx and containing a single hard stone.

The species belongs to Symplocos, the sole genus of the family Symplocaceae, a group of Old and New World woody plants noted for accumulating aluminium and historically valued as mordant ("sapphire-berry") plants whose bark and leaves were used in dyeing. The blue, lipid-rich drupes are dispersed by frugivorous birds. Common, ecologically tolerant and widely planted as an ornamental, S. paniculata is of least conservation concern across its extensive natural range.

Author: Miq. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Revision of the Asiatic Symplocaceae (Nooteboom)

Symplocaceae

Symplocos ramosissima

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex G. Don

Garh 07 236 ergebnis
India Garhwal Barron Chatti 2450m, June
Garh 07 237 ergebnis
India Garhwal Barron Chatti 2450m, June

Description

Symplocos ramosissima is an evergreen shrub or small tree widely distributed through the Sino-Himalayan and Indochinese region, with GBIF recording around 1472 occurrences across China, Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Taiwan. It is a characteristic component of moist broad-leaved evergreen and mixed temperate forests, occurring on humid slopes, ridge forests and forest margins generally between 1500 and 3000 m. The individual photographed at Barron Chatti in Garhwal, India, at about 2450 m in June sits within this mid-montane band, where the species forms part of the dense understorey and lower-canopy layer of laurel-oak and rhododendron-rich forests on the southern Himalayan flank.

Morphologically it is a much-branched evergreen with glabrous or finely pubescent young twigs and alternate, simple, coriaceous leaves; the blades are elliptic to lanceolate, with a serrate to crenate-serrate margin and an acuminate apex. The flowers are small, white, fragrant and borne in short axillary spikes or racemes, each with a persistent calyx, a rotate to shortly campanulate corolla of five lobes and numerous stamens fused into fascicles at the base, the pollination biology favouring small generalist insects. The fruit is a small ovoid to cylindric drupe, blue-black to purplish when ripe, crowned by the persistent calyx lobes and containing a hard stone, dispersed largely by frugivorous birds.

The family Symplocaceae comprises the single large genus Symplocos, a taxonomically intricate group well represented in the Himalaya and East Asia. The genus is notable for accumulating aluminium and for the yellow dye historically obtained from the bark and leaves of several species, which were used as mordants in traditional textile dyeing. As a common and ecologically wide-ranging forest element, S. ramosissima is not considered threatened, though its dependence on intact mid-elevation evergreen forest links its local persistence to the conservation of those increasingly fragmented montane habitats.

Author: Wall. ex G. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Nooteboom Revision of Symplocaceae of the Old World

Symplocaceae

Symplocos sumuntia

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don

Bh2008 155 P254
Bhutan Phobjika 2650m, April

Description

Symplocos sumuntia is a broadly distributed East Asian and Himalayan tree, recorded from Nepal, north-east India, Bhutan and Bangladesh eastward through China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea to Indochina and Myanmar, with thousands of catalogued occurrences spanning this wide range. It is a constituent of broadleaved evergreen and mixed montane forests, occurring on slopes, ridges and forest margins from the warm subtropical lowlands to the cool temperate belt, broadly between about 800 and 2,800 m. The tree photographed at Phobjika in central Bhutan at 2,650 m in April was recorded in flower, the white blossom opening in spring before or with the new foliage.

It is an evergreen shrub or small to medium tree with smooth grey bark and slender, often glabrous twigs. The leaves are alternate, simple, coriaceous, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, acuminate, with finely serrate to subentire margins and an entire to undulate texture. The flowers are small, white and fragrant, borne in short axillary racemes or panicles; the corolla is five-lobed, the numerous stamens united at the base into fascicles adnate to the corolla, a hallmark of the family. The fruit is an ovoid to ellipsoidal drupe crowned by the persistent calyx, ripening blue-black to purple.

Symplocos, the sole genus of Symplocaceae, is taxonomically complex, and S. sumuntia (Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don) has historically encompassed numerous regional variants and synonyms. The leaves and bark are valued locally as a source of mordant (aluminium-accumulating tissues used in dyeing) and in traditional medicine. As a widespread forest species it is not of conservation concern, though it depends on the integrity of subtropical montane forest.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Nooteboom: Revision of Symplocaceae (1975)

Asteraceae

Synotis alata 

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall. ex DC.) C.Jeffrey & Y.L.Chen

Garw 2005 172 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Shertoli 3100m, September

Description

Synotis alata is a robust ragwort-allied composite of the Himalaya and southwestern China, documented by GBIF (330 occurrences) from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. It grows in forest clearings, shrubberies, along streamsides and on grassy slopes within the upper temperate and subalpine zones, typically between about 2500 and 3500 m. The plant photographed at Shertoli in Garhwal, India, at 3100 m in September captures its late-monsoon to autumn flowering, when these tall herbs come into bloom along moist montane margins after the rains.

The species is a perennial herb with erect, often winged or narrowly alate stems, a feature reflected in the epithet "alata". The leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, sharply toothed and frequently decurrent down the stem to form the characteristic wings, with a thinly hairy lower surface. The capitula are numerous and arranged in a broad terminal corymbose panicle; each head is radiate with a few yellow ligulate ray florets surrounding a disc of yellow tubular florets, subtended by an involucre of uniseriate phyllaries with small calyculate bracts. The fruit is a cylindrical, ribbed cypsela bearing a copious white pappus of fine barbellate bristles that aids wind dispersal.

Synotis was segregated from the vast genus Senecio by C. Jeffrey and Y. L. Chen, who recognised its distinctive style and pollen characters; S. alata is a typical member of this Sino-Himalayan group. The wind-borne pappus permits rapid colonisation of disturbed and successional ground, and the bright capitula attract a range of generalist butterfly and bee pollinators. The species is common and widespread across its range and is not considered to be of conservation concern.

Author: (Wall. ex DC.) C.Jeffrey & Y.L.Chen · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, The Senecioneae of the Himalaya (Jeffrey)

Asteraceae

Synotis kunthiana 

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall. ex DC.) C.Jeffrey & Y.L.Chen

Garw 2005 51 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Valley of flowers 3400m, September

Description

Synotis kunthiana is a Sino-Himalayan composite distributed across the central and eastern Himalaya, with verified records from India, Nepal and Bhutan and roughly 56 georeferenced occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of the upper temperate and subalpine zones, typically occupying moist forest margins, shrubberies, streamsides and open herb-rich slopes between about 2800 and 3800 m. The photographed population in the Garhwal Himalaya, in the renowned Valley of Flowers at around 3400 m, flowering in September, exemplifies its late-season phenology in tall-herb communities flushed by the receding monsoon.

It is a perennial herb with erect, often somewhat woody-based stems arising from a short rhizome, the stems leafy and frequently floccose-tomentose when young. The leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, with a serrate to denticulate margin and a thinly arachnoid-pubescent abaxial surface. The capitula are numerous, small and arranged in lax terminal corymbose-paniculate cymes; each head bears an involucre of uniseriate phyllaries subtended by a few calyculate bracteoles, with yellow radiate ray florets surrounding the disc. The fruit is a cylindrical, ribbed cypsela crowned by a copious white pappus of fine barbellate bristles.

The genus Synotis was segregated from Senecio sensu lato by C. Jeffrey and Y. L. Chen on the basis of style-branch and capitular characters, and S. kunthiana is based on the Wallichian Senecio kunthianus. The species remains locally common across its range and is not considered threatened, though its dependence on intact subalpine tall-herb meadows makes it a useful indicator of grazing pressure and habitat continuity.

Author: (Wall. ex DC.) C.Jeffrey & Y.L.Chen · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Jeffrey & Chen revision of Asiatic Senecioneae (Synotis)

Oleaceae

Syringa emodi 

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Royle

Nepal 99 390 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Sallibagar-Khola, Juni

Description

Syringa emodi, the Himalayan lilac, is a deciduous shrub native to the western and central Himalaya, distributed from Afghanistan and Pakistan through Kashmir and India into Nepal, with records extending toward southwestern China. GBIF documents well over three hundred occurrences, though a substantial share derive from cultivated plantings across Europe and North America, where the species has long been grown as an ornamental and used in lilac breeding. In the wild it inhabits open coniferous and mixed forest, forest margins, shrubberies, ravine slopes and streamsides in the temperate zone, generally between about 2400 and 3600 m. The plant photographed in West Nepal along the Sallibagar Khola in June reflects this habitat preference for moist, partly shaded montane valleys where it flowers in early summer.

The plant is a robust, erect shrub reaching three to four metres, with stout, lenticellate branches and a coarse aspect. The leaves are simple, opposite, elliptic to oblong and acuminate, glabrous and dark green above but conspicuously pale and often finely hairy along the veins beneath, distinguishing it from most other lilacs. The flowers are borne in large, erect terminal panicles; the corolla is pale lilac to nearly white, with a slender tube abruptly expanding into four spreading lobes, and the blooms are notably less fragrant, or even faintly unpleasant in scent, compared with the common lilac. Two stamens are inserted within the corolla tube. The fruit is a smooth, oblong, somewhat warty loculicidal capsule splitting to release winged seeds.

Syringa belongs to the olive family and is centred on temperate Asia, with S. emodi representing the genus's principal Himalayan outpost. Its distinctive pale leaf undersides and warty capsules render it readily identifiable, and it has contributed to horticulture both directly and as a parent of hybrid lilacs valued for foliage and hardiness. As a widespread and adaptable species occupying a broad elevational range, it is not considered threatened; its ecological tolerance and capacity to colonise forest edges and disturbed slopes underpin its persistence, while its ornamental and breeding value sustains continued ex situ cultivation worldwide.

Author: Wall. ex Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2 Part 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Lilacs: The Genus Syringa (John L. Fiala)

Apocynaceae

Tabernaemontana divaricata

by GP Jürgens

(L.) R.Br. ex Roem. & Schult.

Bhutan2014 64
Bhutan Trashigang 1250m, May
Bhutan2012 732
Bhutan Galephu 550m, October
Bhutan2012 736
Bhutan Galephu 550m, October

Description

Tabernaemontana divaricata is a shrub of tropical and subtropical Asia, native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and now pantropically cultivated and naturalised; GBIF records over 6500 occurrences across countries including India, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and many introduced ranges in the Americas and Pacific. In Bhutan it was photographed at Trashigang at 1250 m in May and at Galephu at 550 m in October, reflecting its occurrence in warm foothill forests, scrub and village surrounds, where it is also widely planted as the ornamental "crape jasmine."

It is a glabrous, evergreen shrub with dichotomously branched (divaricate) stems exuding copious white latex when cut. The leaves are opposite, simple, elliptic to oblanceolate, glossy dark green, with a tapering apex and prominent lateral venation. The flowers are borne in few-flowered terminal or axillary cymes; each is salverform with a slender tube and five contorted, white, often pinwheel-twisted lobes, fragrant especially at night, and cultivated double-flowered forms are common. The fruit is a paired (often divaricate) follicle, somewhat curved and ridged, splitting to expose seeds embedded in a bright orange-red fleshy aril.

The species belongs to the Apocynaceae (subfamily Rauvolfioideae) and, like its relatives, is rich in indole and monoterpene alkaloids that underpin its use in traditional medicine and account for its toxicity. Long cultivated, it has accumulated many synonyms and horticultural forms. It is not threatened, being abundant in cultivation and naturalising readily; its presence in lowland Bhutan marks the subtropical Himalayan margin of a broadly Indomalayan range.

Author: (L.) R.Br. ex Roem. & Schult. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of British India, revision of Tabernaemontana (Leeuwenberg)