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.

Convolvulaceae

Cuscuta reflexa

by GP Jürgens

Roxb.

Bhutan2012 1238
Bhutan Trashigang 1150m, October

Description

Cuscuta reflexa, the giant or Asian dodder, is a widely distributed parasitic vine ranging across South, Central and Southeast Asia and beyond, with GBIF documenting more than 1000 occurrences from India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand and Myanmar among others. It occurs from the plains into the lower hills, the photographed plant deriving from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1150 m in October. As an obligate stem holoparasite it has no true habitat preference of its own but follows that of its hosts, smothering shrubs, hedges and trees along forest margins, scrub, roadsides and cultivated ground in warm subtropical settings.

The plant is a leafless, rootless twining parasite with stout, fleshy, glabrous stems coloured yellow, orange or reddish, attaching to hosts by means of haustoria that penetrate the vascular tissue. Leaves are reduced to minute scales and chlorophyll is largely absent. The flowers are comparatively large for the genus, white to creamy, fragrant, and crowded in dense lateral racemes; the campanulate corolla has reflexed lobes (hence the epithet) and bears characteristic infrastaminal scales within the tube. The fruit is a globose capsule capped by the persistent corolla and opening circumscissily to release several seeds.

Cuscuta (now placed within an enlarged Convolvulaceae rather than a segregate Cuscutaceae) comprises around 200 holoparasitic species. C. reflexa is economically significant as a pest of cultivated and ornamental plants, yet is simultaneously valued in traditional South Asian medicine. Far from threatened, it is locally abundant and weedy; its parasitism exerts measurable effects on host vigour and on plant-community structure where it proliferates.

Author: Roxb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of British India (Hooker), Yuncker Monograph of the Genus Cuscuta

Convolvulaceae

Cuscuta reflexa

by GP Jürgens

Roxb.

Bhutan2015 57
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 2000m, October
Bhutan2015 58
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 2000m, October

Description

Cuscuta reflexa, the giant or Asiatic dodder, is a parasitic twiner widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia, from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka through Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand to China, with introduced records reaching Britain, Kenya, Mauritius, Iraq, Korea and the United States; its more than 1000 GBIF occurrences reflect both abundance and weediness. It occurs from the plains into the lower mountains, scrambling over shrubs, hedges, trees and crops in open scrub, forest margins, gardens and waste ground. The plant photographed at Wangdue Phodrang in Bhutan at about 2000 m in October sits at the upper part of its range, which extends from near sea level to roughly 3000 m.

It is a leafless, rootless holoparasite whose body consists of slender, much-branched, twining stems that are yellow to orange and essentially without chlorophyll, attaching to the host by intrusive haustoria that tap the vascular tissue. Leaves are reduced to minute scales. The flowers are small, white to creamy, fragrant and bell-shaped, borne in dense lateral racemose or spike-like clusters; the campanulate corolla has five reflexed lobes (the source of the epithet reflexa) and encloses scale-like infrastaminal appendages. The fruit is a globose capsule that opens by a circumscissile lid to release several small seeds.

Though listed here under Convolvulaceae, Cuscuta is frequently segregated into its own family Cuscutaceae; molecular evidence nests the genus firmly within Convolvulaceae, validating the family placement given. C. reflexa is the largest-stemmed Asian dodder and an agriculturally significant parasite that can damage ornamentals, hedges and tree crops, while also being widely employed in traditional medicine. Its broad, partly anthropogenic distribution and its appearance as an introduced weed in distant regions mark it as a successful generalist parasite.

Author: Roxb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Yuncker monograph of Cuscuta, Stefanovic Convolvulaceae phylogeny

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus hookeri

by GP Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Bhutan2012 881
Bhutan Jakar 2200m, October

Description

Cyananthus hookeri C.B.Clarke is a small Sino-Himalayan herb recorded by GBIF from China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, with 641 occurrences distributed through the higher Himalaya into south-western China. It grows on open slopes, grassy banks, rocky ground and trail margins in the temperate to subalpine zones, typically between about 2200 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Jakar in central Bhutan, at roughly 2200 m in October, marks the lower end of its altitudinal range and illustrates its late-season flowering, the genus being characteristically autumn-blooming in the eastern Himalaya.

The species is a small, slender annual with prostrate to ascending, often branched stems. The leaves are alternate, small, ovate to obovate or oblanceolate, frequently with a few teeth and short hairs. The flowers are terminal and solitary, with a conspicuously inflated, hairy calyx tube; the corolla is broadly funnel- to bell-shaped, blue to pale blue or sometimes whitish, with the throat closed by a tuft of hairs and the lobes spreading. As in all Cyananthus, the fruit is a capsule that, distinctively for the family, dehisces from the apex downward to shed the numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is an Asian alpine genus of the Campanulaceae centred on the Himalaya and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, distinguished by its apically dehiscent capsules and the bearded corolla throat. Among its members, C. hookeri is one of the smaller, annual species, contrasting with the perennial, larger-flowered relatives of the genus. It is pollinated by alpine insects and is not regarded as threatened, being locally frequent and forming a characteristic component of the late-flowering meadow and slope flora of the central and eastern Himalaya.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Sprague revision of Cyananthus

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus incanus

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2012 84
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Bhutan2012 87
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Sikkim2003 136 G184
Sikkim Dzongri 3950m, August

Description

Cyananthus incanus is a low alpine perennial of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Tibet, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with about 777 occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open alpine turf, stony slopes, screes and the margins of dwarf rhododendron scrub, generally between 3500 and 4500 m, in well-drained sites of the upper alpine zone. The photographs from the Shele La in Bhutan at about 4100 m in September and from Dzongri in Sikkim at about 3950 m in August show the plant flowering through the late-monsoon and early-autumn season typical of the high eastern Himalaya.

The plant is a mat-forming or loosely tufted perennial with a stout, woody rootstock from which radiate slender, prostrate to ascending stems. The small leaves are alternate, ovate to obovate, entire or slightly toothed, and clothed in greyish hairs, the indumentum reflected in the epithet incanus. The flowers are solitary and terminal, comparatively large for the plant; the calyx is densely hairy and tubular, and the broadly bell-shaped to funnelform corolla is blue to purplish-blue with five spreading lobes and a conspicuous tuft of hairs (a beard) closing the throat, a hallmark of the genus. The fruit is a capsule splitting from the apex to release numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of the Campanulaceae distinguished from Campanula by its terminal solitary flowers, a deeply lobed corolla and the bearded throat. The cushion or mat habit and woolly leaves are typical adaptations to the cold, wind-exposed and sun-drenched conditions of the alpine zone. Several species, including C. incanus, are prized in alpine and rock gardens for their intense blue flowers. Locally frequent across its range, it is not regarded as threatened.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lammers' classification of the Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus inflatus

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2012 258
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 106
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September

Description

Cyananthus inflatus is an annual herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent mountains, recorded by GBIF in some 605 occurrences from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar. It occupies open alpine and subalpine ground, including grassy slopes, screes, disturbed banks and the margins of trails and meadows, broadly between 3000 and 4300 m. The illustrated plant was photographed in Bhutan at the Shele-La at 4000 m in September, flowering late in the season as autumn approaches, when many alpine annuals complete their cycle on cool, well-drained slopes.

The plant is a slender, branching annual with ascending to decumbent stems bearing alternate, small, ovate to spathulate leaves that are entire or slightly toothed and sparsely hairy. The flowers are terminal and solitary on the branch tips, subtended by a leafy involucre. The calyx is conspicuously inflated and tubular, becoming swollen and membranous in fruit, clothed in dark or appressed hairs. The corolla is broadly campanulate, pale to deep blue, five-lobed and bearded within at the throat with a tuft of hairs characteristic of the genus. The fruit is a capsule enclosed by the persistent inflated calyx, splitting to shed numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus (Campanulaceae) is a Sino-Himalayan genus of around twenty species notable for its bearded corolla throat and superior to half-inferior ovary, distinguishing it from the related Codonopsis and Campanula. The epithet inflatus refers to the swollen fruiting calyx, a diagnostic feature within the annual group. GBIF treats the name as accepted. As a wide-ranging, often weedy annual of disturbed alpine ground, it is locally common and of no conservation concern.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Lammers studies of Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus lobatus

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Bhutan2012 75
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Sikkim2003 114 G154
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 130 P176
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m 08.2003

Description

Cyananthus lobatus is a well-known Himalayan trailing bellflower distributed from Nepal through India, Bhutan and southern Tibet (China) into Myanmar, with the genus's comparatively abundant 515 GBIF records (additional European and North American codes reflect its popularity in cultivation). It grows in the alpine and upper subalpine zones on open grassy slopes, rock ledges, screes and moist turf, broadly between about 3000 and 4500 m. The plants illustrated, from the Shele-La in Bhutan at around 4100 m in September and from Dzongri in Sikkim near 4000 m in August, occupy this late-summer to autumn alpine habitat.

It is a low, mat-forming or sprawling perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, with prostrate to ascending, often reddish stems bearing small, alternate, obovate leaves that are usually lobed or toothed and somewhat fleshy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, large and showy for the plant's size; the broadly funnelform to bowl-shaped corolla is deep blue to violet-blue, five-lobed, and conspicuously bearded with white hairs in the throat, subtended by a swollen, hairy calyx tube. The fruit is a capsule enclosed in the persistent calyx, releasing numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus distinguished from other Campanulaceae by its terminal solitary flowers, throat beard and superior ovary, and C. lobatus is its most familiar species, long valued as a choice late-flowering rock-garden plant, which explains its wide ex-situ record base. Its prostrate, cushiony habit suits exposed high-altitude ground. The species is widespread and locally common across the Himalaya and is not considered threatened, although alpine grazing and warming-driven upslope vegetation shifts could affect individual populations.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lammers Revision of Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus macrocalyx subsp. spathulifolius

by GP Jürgens

(Nannf.) K.K.Shrestha

Sikkim2003 127 G173
Sikkim Dzongri 4000
Sikkim2003 128 G174
Sikkim Dzongri 4000m 08.2003

Description

Cyananthus macrocalyx subsp. spathulifolius is a high-alpine perennial of the eastern and central Himalaya and adjacent China, recorded from China, Nepal, Bhutan and India, with GBIF documenting about 56 occurrences for the taxon. It grows on open alpine turf, rocky slopes, stabilised scree and moraine in the alpine zone, commonly between 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant was found at Dzongri in Sikkim at about 4000 m in August, flowering late in the monsoon summer when its broad blue corollas appear among low alpine herbage on these exposed high ridges.

The plant is a low, somewhat tufted to prostrate perennial with slender, ascending or trailing stems arising from a stout rootstock and exuding milky latex when broken. The leaves are small, alternate and crowded, with spathulate to obovate blades (the source of the subspecific epithet), the margins entire to few-toothed. The flowers are solitary and terminal, comparatively large for the plant; the calyx is conspicuously inflated and large, as the specific epithet "macrocalyx" indicates, often hairy. The corolla is broadly campanulate, blue to purplish-blue, with five spreading lobes and a bearded throat; there are five stamens and an inferior to half-inferior ovary, maturing into a capsule.

The taxon belongs to Cyananthus (Campanulaceae), a Sino-Himalayan genus distinguished from Campanula by its hypogynous nectary disc and large calyx. Recombined by K.K. Shrestha, this subspecies is a regional variant of the polymorphic C. macrocalyx complex. A specialist of high, well-drained alpine habitats, it is naturally localised but not known to be threatened, though sensitive to grazing and warming-driven contraction of the alpine zone.

Author: (Nannf.) K.K.Shrestha · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, revision of Cyananthus (Shrestha)

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus pedunculatus

by GP Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Sikkim2003 430 P597
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 430 P597
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 504 P704
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m 08.2003

Description

Cyananthus pedunculatus C.B.Clarke is an eastern Himalayan alpine herb confined to the high mountains of Nepal, India (Sikkim, Darjeeling), Bhutan and adjacent southern China, the GBIF record of about 60 occurrences underscoring its restricted distribution. It is a plant of moist alpine turf, rock ledges, scrub margins and grassy slopes in the subalpine to alpine zone, typically between 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant below Dzongri in Sikkim at around 4000 m, flowering in August, exemplifies its monsoon-season anthesis in cool, humid, well-drained high-altitude meadows beneath the snow peaks of the eastern ranges.

The species is a low, tufted or shortly ascending perennial arising from a slender woody rootstock, the stems several, prostrate to decumbent and clothed with small, alternate, entire to crenate leaves that are often revolute-margined and sparsely hairy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, borne on conspicuously elongate peduncles that distinguish the species. The corolla is broadly campanulate to funnel-shaped, blue to violet-blue, with five spreading lobes and a dense ring of white hairs in the throat; the calyx is tubular and hairy. Five stamens and a half-inferior ovary are present, the fruit a many-seeded capsule dehiscing apically.

Cyananthus is a genus of around twenty species centred on the Sino-Himalaya and characterised by its throat-bearded, campanulate corollas, sometimes treated near the Lobelioideae but retained within Campanulaceae. C. pedunculatus is recognised by its long flower-stalks, separating it from cushion-forming congeners such as C. lobatus and C. microphyllus. As a localised high-elevation endemic it is potentially sensitive to climate-driven upslope shifts and disturbance, though not formally assessed; it is occasionally grown by alpine-plant specialists.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, T. T. Yü — Monograph of the genus Cyananthus

Amaranthaceae

Cyathula capitata

by G & P Jürgens

Moq.

Bhutan2012 836
Bhutan Tongsa 2100m, October

Description

Cyathula capitata Moq. is a robust perennial herb of the amaranth family distributed through the Himalaya and the mountains of southwestern China. GBIF records place it in China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, confirming a Sino-Himalayan range, with an outlying Italian record reflecting cultivated or naturalised material. It grows in forest margins, shrubby clearings, grassy slopes and along trails and streamsides in the temperate zone, generally between about 1,500 and 2,800 m. The plant photographed at Tongsa (Trongsa) in central Bhutan at 2,100 m in October illustrates its late-season fruiting on humid montane slopes.

The species is an erect, branching herb up to 1 m or more tall with angular, pubescent stems swollen at the nodes. The leaves are opposite, broadly elliptic to obovate, acuminate, entire and softly hairy. The small flowers are aggregated into dense, globose, capitate heads borne on long peduncles; each head contains both fertile flowers and sterile flowers modified into hooked, recurved bristles. The membranous tepals subtend a single-seeded utricle, and the indurated hooked bracteoles of the head function in epizoochorous dispersal, attaching to animal fur.

Cyathula is allied to Achyranthes and Pupalia within the Amaranthaceae, distinguished by its globose flower heads with hooked sterile bristles. C. capitata is used in traditional medicine in parts of its range, where the roots serve as a substitute for those of Achyranthes. It is widespread within suitable montane habitat and is not regarded as threatened.

Author: Moq. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 5, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Townsend: Amaranthaceae in Flora of Tropical East Africa

Amaranthaceae

Cyathula tomentosa 

by G & P Jürgens

Moq.

Garw 2005 206 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Pana 2800m, September

Description

Cyathula tomentosa is a coarse perennial herb of the Himalaya, Sino-Himalaya and parts of tropical Africa, recorded from Nepal, NW and NE India, Bhutan, southern China and Myanmar, with disjunct records from New Guinea and Rwanda; GBIF holds 238 occurrences. It grows on forest margins, shrubby slopes, roadsides, clearings and other disturbed, semi-shaded ground in the temperate and subtropical zone. The collection from Pana in Garhwal, India, at about 2,800 m in September corresponds to its late-summer to autumn fruiting in mid-montane forest country.

It is an erect to ascending, much-branched herb up to about 1–1.5 m tall, with quadrangular, densely white-tomentose stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate to elliptic, 4–12 cm long, acuminate, with a soft woolly indumentum, especially beneath. The inflorescence is a long, interrupted, spike-like thyrse of dense glomerules, each cluster comprising a central fertile flower surrounded by modified sterile flowers whose perianth segments and bracteoles are produced into hooked, hardened spines. The perianth of the fertile flower is membranous; the fruit is a small utricle enclosed within the indurated, burr-like cluster.

The species belongs to Cyathula (Amaranthaceae, subfamily Amaranthoideae), allied to Achyranthes and Pupalia, the genus being distinguished by its glomerules of hooked sterile flowers. GBIF treats the name as accepted. The barbed fruiting clusters are an effective epizoochorous dispersal mechanism, attaching to fur and clothing, which accounts for the plant's affinity for disturbed and trackside habitats. It is widespread and of no conservation concern.

Author: Moq. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 5, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Townsend: Amaranthaceae in Flora of Tropical East Africa (1985)