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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.

Orchideaceae

Cypripedium cordigerum

by GP Jürgens

D.Don

Bh09 315 G526
Bh09 314 G518
Bhutan Yetong-La, 3000m June
Nepal 99 86 ergebnis
West-Nepal Bhulbhule 3200m, June
Nepal 99 383.JPG ergebnis
West-Nepal Linji-Khola 3200m, June
Garh 07 213 ergebnis
India Garhwal Panwali 3200m, June

Description

Cypripedium cordigerum, the Himalayan slipper orchid, ranges along the temperate Himalaya from Pakistan through India, Nepal and Bhutan into adjacent China, with 190 occurrences in GBIF. It grows in cool, humus-rich habitats: open coniferous and mixed forest, forest clearings, shrubberies and grassy alpine slopes, generally between 2700 and 4000 m. The gatherings figured span this band, from Bhutan's Yetong-La at 3000 m through West Nepal (Bhulbhule, Linji-Khola, 3200 m) to Garhwal's Panwali at 3200 m, all in June, illustrating its early-summer flowering on moist, partly shaded mountain soils as the growing season opens.

The plant arises from a short, creeping rhizome bearing thick fleshy roots, producing an erect, pubescent leafy stem 20-45 cm tall. The leaves are several, alternate, broadly elliptic to ovate, plicate (longitudinally folded) and clasping at the base. The flower is usually solitary and terminal, subtended by a leafy bract; the sepals and lateral petals are greenish to yellowish-white, lanceolate and somewhat twisted, while the labellum forms the characteristic inflated, slipper-shaped pouch, white often flushed pink within. The fertile anthers flank a shield-like staminode; the fruit is an erect, ribbed dehiscent capsule containing innumerable dust-like seeds.

Cypripedium (Orchidaceae, subfamily Cypripedioideae) comprises the temperate lady's-slipper orchids, employing deceptive trap-pollination whereby insects enter the pouch and exit past the anthers. The input family is given as "Orchideaceae"; the accepted family is Orchidaceae. Like its congeners, C. cordigerum depends on mycorrhizal associations and is slow to establish, making it vulnerable to collection and habitat loss; it is listed on CITES Appendix II and warrants conservation attention across its Himalayan range.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flowers of the Himalaya, The Genus Cypripedium (A Monograph)

Orchideaceae

Cypripedium elegans

by G & P Jürgens

Rchb.f.

BhutanPG2011 228
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3600m June

Description

Cypripedium elegans Rchb.f. is a diminutive lady's-slipper orchid of the eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from India, Nepal, Bhutan and China across some 59 occurrences. It is a plant of cool, humid high-altitude habitats, growing in mossy alpine and subalpine scrub, beneath Rhododendron and dwarf bamboo, and on shaded humus-rich banks, generally between about 3000 and 4000 m. The individual photographed at Tsochenchen in Bhutan at around 3600 m in June, early in the alpine season, reflects its preference for sheltered, perennially moist sites with deep leaf litter and a stable cool microclimate.

The plant arises from a short creeping rhizome and produces a slender, low erect stem bearing usually two broadly elliptic to ovate, plicate, prominently veined leaves that are held more or less opposite or subopposite near the top of the stem. The single nodding flower is small for the genus; the dorsal sepal and the synsepal (the fused lateral sepals) are ovate and the petals narrow, the whole pale yellowish-green to greenish, often faintly marked. The labellum is modified into the characteristic inflated, slipper-shaped pouch that traps and temporarily detains pollinating insects, which exit past the staminode and stigma, effecting pollination.

Cypripedium belongs to subfamily Cypripedioideae, the slipper orchids, marked by their two fertile anthers and saccate lip. Cypripedium elegans is one of the smallest and most delicate Himalayan members of the genus. It is uncommon, slow to establish, and like all Cypripedium it is highly sensitive to collection and habitat disturbance; the genus is listed on CITES Appendix II and several species are of conservation concern. Its restricted high-Himalayan range makes it a notable narrow-altitude alpine specialist.

Author: Rchb.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Cribb monograph The Genus Cypripedium, Pearce and Cribb Orchids of Bhutan

Orchideaceae

Cypripedium guttatum

by GP Jürgens

Sw.

Bh09 317 P521
Bhutan Yetong-La, 3100m June
Bh09 320 P525
Bh09 319 G523
Bhutan Yetong-La, 3050m June

Description

Cypripedium guttatum is a broadly circumboreal slipper orchid with one of the widest ranges in its genus, documented across Russia, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Bhutan and into North America, the nearly 4900 records reflecting its extensive Eurasian-American boreal distribution. At the southern Himalayan limit of its range it ascends into cool montane forest, the images recording plants on the Yetong-La in Bhutan at about 3050 to 3100 m in June. It grows in coniferous and mixed woodland, forest margins, grassy clearings and on mossy, humus-rich or calcareous ground, typically in light shade with consistent soil moisture.

It is a small terrestrial orchid spreading by slender creeping rhizomes, often forming loose colonies. The erect stem bears usually two subopposite, broadly elliptic to ovate, plicate leaves with conspicuous parallel venation. A single terminal flower is produced; the characteristic inflated, pouch-shaped labellum and the sepals and petals are white boldly blotched and mottled with rose-purple to magenta, the lateral sepals being fused into a synsepal beneath the lip. As in all Cypripedium the column bears two fertile anthers and a shield-like staminode, and the flower offers no nectar reward, attracting small bee pollinators by deceit before the inferior ovary matures into a capsule of dust-like seeds.

The species is placed in section Trigonopedia of Cypripedium and is notable for its small stature and strikingly spotted bicoloured flower. Like other slipper orchids it depends on mycorrhizal fungi for seed germination and establishment, and reproduces both clonally via rhizomes and by minute wind-dispersed seed. Although its overall range is vast and it is locally abundant in parts of Siberia, populations at the range periphery, including the Himalaya, are sparse, and the species faces collection and habitat-loss pressures that warrant local conservation attention.

Author: Sw. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Genera Orchidacearum (Cypripedioideae), Cribb monograph of the genus Cypripedium

Orchideaceae

Cypripedium himalaicum

by G & P Jürgens

Rolfe ex. Hemsl.

BhutanPG2011 188
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3600m June
BhutanPG2011 794
Bhutan Chele-La, 3850m July
Nepal 99 48 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2700m, June
Nepal 99 51 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2700m, June
Nepal 99 370 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2700m, June

Description

Cypripedium himalaicum is a terrestrial slipper orchid native to the eastern Himalayas, found in Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim, and southern Tibet. It grows in alpine meadows and open forests at elevations of 3,000 to 4,500 m.

The plant reaches 15–35 cm in height, bearing one or two broadly elliptic leaves. The solitary flower is distinctive: the dorsal sepal is greenish-white with purple veins, the petals are narrow and twisted, and the lip forms a large inflated pouch, pale yellowish-green with purple spotting. Flowering occurs from May to July.

Cypripedium himalaicum is one of the highest-altitude slipper orchids in the world. It is classified as vulnerable due to habitat loss and overcollection. All Cypripedium species are listed under CITES Appendix II.

Author: Rolfe ex. Hemsl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan, CITES Checklist

Orchideaceae

Cypripedium tibeticum

by G & P Jürgens

King ex Rolfe

BhutanPG2011 177
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3600m June

Description

Cypripedium tibeticum is a terrestrial slipper orchid of the high Sino-Himalaya, native to China, India and Bhutan and reaching the eastern Tibetan plateau, with several hundred recorded occurrences concentrated in the mountains of southwest China. It is a plant of subalpine and alpine habitats, growing in open coniferous and Rhododendron woodland, scrub margins, grassy slopes and damp meadows, generally between about 2300 and 4200 m. The individual shown at Tsochenchen in Bhutan at 3600 m in June illustrates its flowering in early summer in cool, humus-rich montane turf.

The plant is a perennial herb arising from a short, creeping rhizome with fleshy roots, producing erect stems each bearing usually three to four broadly elliptic to ovate, plicate leaves with prominent venation. The solitary, terminal flower is large and conspicuous, subtended by a leafy bract. The sepals and petals are deep purple to blackish-maroon, often paler-veined, the dorsal sepal broad and the lateral sepals fused into a synsepal beneath the lip. The defining feature is the large, inflated, pouch-like labellum, deep wine-purple and reticulately veined, which functions as a trap pollination chamber. The column bears a flat, sterile staminode, and the fruit is an erect capsule.

The species belongs to Cypripedium section Cypripedium, the temperate slipper orchids, and is among the most variable and widespread members in the Himalayan–Tibetan region, with several varieties described. Its showy flowers and deceptive food-mimic pollination by bees make it of pollination-biological interest. Heavily threatened by collection and habitat disturbance, it is listed on CITES Appendix II and is of genuine conservation concern across its range.

Author: King ex Rolfe · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, The Orchids of Bhutan (Pearce & Cribb), Cribb The Genus Cypripedium, CITES Appendices

Orchideaceae

Cyrtosia lindleyana

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Sikkim 2006 306 ergebnis
Sikkim Ringi-Chu Tolung Gompa 2410m, May
Sikkim 2006 477 ergebnis
Sikkim Ringi-Chu Tolung Gompa 2410m, May
Sikkim 2006 475 ergebnis
Sikkim Ringi-Chu Tolung Gompa 2410m, May

Description

Cyrtosia lindleyana Hook.f. & Thomson is a leafless, mycoheterotrophic orchid of the tribe Vanilleae, distributed across the eastern Himalaya and into mainland and insular Southeast Asia. Its range, documented through some 400 georeferenced records, spans Nepal, northeast India, Bhutan, southern China, Taiwan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia. The species favours the deep humus and leaf litter of shaded, humid broad-leaved and mixed forests, where it depends on a mycorrhizal fungal partner for its entire nutrition. It typically occurs at montane elevations between roughly 1,500 and 2,800 m, consistent with the photographed population at Ringi-Chu near Tolung Gompa in Sikkim, recorded at 2,410 m in May.

Lacking chlorophyll, the plant emerges only to flower and fruit, arising from a stout, fleshy, coralloid rhizome that ramifies through the substrate. The erect, brownish to ochre, scale-clad inflorescence bears a loose raceme or panicle of comparatively large flowers. These are fleshy and yellowish, often suffused with brown or russet tones, with spreading sepals and petals and a concave, somewhat saccate lip bearing internal ridges. The fruit is distinctive among orchids: a large, fleshy, berry-like, indehiscent capsule, red at maturity, containing hard-coated seeds rather than the typical dust-fine orchid seed.

The genus Cyrtosia, together with allied Galeola, exemplifies the repeated evolution of full mycoheterotrophy within Vanilleae and is of considerable interest for studies of orchid–fungus associations. Because the plants are inconspicuous and only briefly visible, the species is easily overlooked and under-recorded. As an obligate forest-floor mycoheterotroph it is highly sensitive to logging and disturbance of soil mycota, and like all orchids is afforded protection under CITES Appendix II.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 25, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Pearce & Cribb: The Orchids of Bhutan (2002)

Papaveraceae

Dactylicapnos lichiangensis

by G & P Jürgens

(Fedde.) Hand.-Mazz.

Bhutan2012 678
Bhuitan Tserang 1300m, June

Description

Dactylicapnos lichiangensis (Fedde) Hand.-Mazz. is a scandent herbaceous climber of the Fumarioideae, distributed across the eastern Himalaya and the Sino-Himalayan transition zone. GBIF records (136 occurrences) confirm its presence in southwest China (notably Yunnan, where the epithet references the Lijiang district) and Bhutan, where it ascends into the subtropical and warm-temperate belts. The species was photographed at Tserang in Bhutan at 1,300 m in June, a typical setting along moist forest margins, shaded ravines, and shrubby thickets where it scrambles over neighbouring vegetation. It favours humid, sheltered microhabitats on well-drained slopes between roughly 1,200 and 2,800 m.

The plant is a delicate, glabrous annual or short-lived perennial with slender, brittle, much-branched stems that climb by means of tendril-like terminations of the much-divided leaves. The foliage is biternately to triternately compound, the ultimate segments ovate to lanceolate, glaucous beneath. The pendent, few-flowered racemes bear distinctive yellow, heart-shaped flowers; the outer pair of petals is saccate at the base, forming a dorsal pouch characteristic of the genus, enclosing the inner petals. The fruit is a slender capsule containing several glossy black seeds, each typically bearing an elaiosome that promotes myrmecochorous dispersal.

Dactylicapnos was segregated from Dicentra on the basis of its climbing habit and tendrillar leaves, and lichiangensis sits within a cluster of yellow-flowered Sino-Himalayan species often confused in herbaria. Like many Fumarioideae it contains isoquinoline alkaloids of pharmacological interest. Although not formally assessed as threatened, its restricted distribution and dependence on intact forest-edge habitat make local populations sensitive to deforestation.

Author: (Fedde.) Hand.-Mazz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Lidén & Fukuhara: Taxonomy of Fumariaceae (1997)

Papaveraceae

Dactylicapnos scandens

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Hutch.

Bhutan2012 477
Bhutan Pele-La 3300m, June

Description

Dactylicapnos scandens is a climbing fumitory of the Himalaya and adjacent China and Indochina, native across China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka; its more than 300 GBIF records include numerous cultivated and naturalised occurrences in Europe, North America and New Zealand, reflecting its popularity as an ornamental climber. It grows in moist temperate forest, thickets and shrubby clearings, scrambling over other vegetation, mostly between about 1500 and 3300 m. The plant shown from Pele-La in Bhutan at 3300 m, flowering in June, sits at the upper edge of this range in cool broadleaved and conifer forest.

It is a herbaceous to suffrutescent perennial climber with slender, much-branched stems clinging by means of branched, tendril-like leaflet tips. The leaves are alternate, two- to three-pinnately compound and glaucous, the ultimate segments small and ovate, the terminal portions modified into coiling tendrils. The flowers hang in pendulous racemes and are zygomorphic with two bilaterally symmetrical, spurred or saccate outer petals enclosing two inner petals, the whole corolla bright golden-yellow. The fruit is an elongate, several-seeded capsule that dehisces to release shining black seeds, each bearing an elaiosome.

Dactylicapnos was separated from Dicentra and Corydalis on the basis of its climbing habit, tendrillate leaves and capsular fruit. D. scandens, based on D. Don's Fumaria scandens and transferred by Hutchinson, is widespread and not threatened, and its toxic isoquinoline alkaloids have attracted pharmacological interest in traditional medicine.

Author: (D.Don) Hutch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Lidén & Fukuhara revision of Dactylicapnos

Papaveraceae

Dactylicapnos scandens

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Hutch.

Bhutan2012 1316
Bhutan2012 1315
Bhutan2012 678
Bhutan2012 477

Description

Dactylicapnos scandens (D.Don) Hutch. is a scrambling herbaceous climber of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent montane Asia, ranging across Nepal, India, Bhutan, southern China and Myanmar, with extensions into Thailand and Vietnam; the GBIF dataset records some 301 occurrences, the majority along the Sino-Himalayan arc, while scattered points from Europe, North America and New Zealand reflect cultivated or naturalised material. It favours moist temperate and subtropical forest margins, thickets, ravines and disturbed slopes, typically between about 1500 and 3000 m, threading through supporting vegetation by means of tendrillar leaf appendages.

The plant is a glabrous, glaucous perennial with slender, much-branched, climbing stems arising from a slender rootstock. The leaves are alternate, several times pinnately or ternately divided into small ovate to lanceolate leaflets, the terminal segments of the rachis modified into branched tendrils that secure the climbing habit. The pendent inflorescences are racemose, bearing nodding, bright yellow, distinctly heart-shaped flowers; the outer pair of petals is saccate to spurred at the base and connivent at the apex, enclosing the inner petals in the characteristic fumarioid manner. The fruit is a slender, elongate, dehiscent capsule containing several shining black seeds.

Formerly placed in Dicentra and Corydalis, the genus Dactylicapnos is now firmly assigned to the Papaveraceae subfamily Fumarioideae, distinguished by its climbing tendrillate habit and zygomorphic dimerous flowers. The species is widespread and locally common, of no immediate conservation concern, and is valued horticulturally as an ornamental climber for cool temperate gardens.

Author: (D.Don) Hutch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Dactylicapnos and Fumarioideae

Orchideaceae

Dactylorhiza hatagirea

by G & P Jürgens

(D.Don) Soó

Nepal 99 109 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3600m, June
Garh 07 43 ergebnis
India Garhwal Nanu at Mandakini 2400m, June

Description

Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D.Don) Soó is a terrestrial marsh orchid of the Himalaya and Central Asia, recorded from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia and Russia; the GBIF dataset of 311 occurrences reflects a wide but increasingly fragmented high-altitude range. It grows in moist alpine and subalpine meadows, marshy grassland, streamsides and damp slopes, broadly between 2500 and 4000 m. The photographed plants from south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at about 3600 m and from Nanu at the Mandakini in Garhwal, India, at about 2400 m, both flowering in June, exemplify its early-summer anthesis in cool, wet, open meadows across the western and central Himalaya.

The species is an erect, glabrous, tuberous perennial herb arising from palmately lobed, hand-shaped root-tubers — the digitate tubers giving both the generic name and the local trade name "Hatajari" or "Salampanja." The stem is stout and hollow, bearing several oblong-lanceolate, sheathing, usually unspotted leaves grading into bracts above. The inflorescence is a dense, many-flowered terminal spike of pink to purple-violet flowers; each has spreading sepals, a hooded arrangement of the upper segments, and a broad, three-lobed, darkly spotted labellum with a stout, descending spur. The column bears two pollinia, and the fruit is a ribbed, dehiscent capsule releasing minute, dust-like seeds.

Dactylorhiza (Orchidaceae, subtribe Orchidinae) is a north-temperate genus of tuberous marsh orchids defined by palmately divided tubers and spurred, lobed labella; D. hatagirea is its principal Himalayan representative. The dried tubers are intensively harvested for the salep trade and traditional medicine, and this over-collection, compounded by grazing and habitat loss, has driven steep population declines. It is consequently listed on CITES Appendix II and regarded as threatened and legally protected across much of its range, making it a priority for conservation and sustainable management.

Author: (D.Don) Soó · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Pridgeon et al. — Genera Orchidacearum