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.

Thymelaeaceae

Daphne bholua

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Sikkim2011 45
Sikkim Vista-valley 3750m, June
Sikkim2011 49
Sikkim Vista-valley 3750m, June

Description

Daphne bholua is an evergreen to semi-deciduous shrub of the central and eastern Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, China, Bhutan and India, with around 758 georeferenced records; its appearance in numerous temperate countries reflects its extensive horticultural cultivation. In the wild it occupies temperate and subalpine forest, scrub and clearings, often in oak, rhododendron and conifer woodland and on open hillsides. The plant photographed in Sikkim's Vista valley at 3750 m, flowering in June, exemplifies its upper-elevation range, where it forms thickets on moist, well-drained slopes.

It grows as an erect shrub to about 2.5 m with tough, fibrous bark and densely leafy branches. The leaves are alternate, clustered toward the branch tips, oblong-lanceolate, leathery, glossy dark green above and entire-margined. The fragrant flowers are borne in dense terminal and subterminal clusters; each has no petals but a petaloid, salverform perianth tube, white within and flushed rose-purple outside, the four spreading lobes strongly scented. The fruit is a fleshy ovoid berry-like drupe, blackening when ripe.

Daphne bholua, described by Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don, is celebrated in horticulture for its intensely fragrant winter-to-spring flowers and has given rise to many cultivars. In its homeland the strong bast fibres of the bark are a principal source of traditional Nepali handmade paper (lokta). Like other Thymelaeaceae it contains acrid, toxic compounds. Although widespread and not formally threatened, intensive bark harvesting for paper-making places localised pressure on wild populations.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Halda The Genus Daphne

Thymelaeaceae

Daphne sureil

by GP Jürgens

W.W.Sm. & Cave

Bhutan2012 638
Bhutan Tserang, 1600m September
Bhutan2015 218
Bhutan Zhemgang 1000m, October
Bh2008 515 P790
Bhutan Chongsakha, 1800m April

Description

Daphne sureil is a shrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Southeast Asia, recorded from India, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam, with about 124 documented occurrences. It is a plant of warm-temperate and subtropical broad-leaved forest, growing in the understorey and along forest margins, ravines and stream banks on moist, well-drained slopes. In Bhutan it occupies the lower to middle montane belt across a broad elevational span, as shown by collections from Tserang at about 1600 m in September, Zhemgang at 1000 m in October and Chongsakha at 1800 m in April, the spring date corresponding to its flowering period.

The species is an evergreen shrub with slender, glabrous branches bearing alternate, shortly petiolate leaves that are elliptic to oblanceolate, entire, acuminate or acute at the apex and tapering at the base, leathery and glossy above with a paler lower surface. The flowers are borne in small terminal clusters and lack petals, the floral display formed instead by a tubular, fragrant white to creamy perianth of four spreading lobes, the tube silky-pubescent without and enclosing eight stamens in two whorls. The fruit is a fleshy ovoid drupe, ripening red, containing a single seed.

Daphne sureil was described by W. W. Smith and Cave from the eastern Himalaya and belongs to the predominantly evergreen Asian assemblage of the genus. As in other Daphne species, the bark contains tough phloem fibres and the tissues bear the diterpenoid daphnane compounds responsible for their acridity and toxicity. The bird-dispersed drupes and strongly scented, presumably moth-pollinated flowers reflect typical thymelaeaceous biology. The species is locally frequent in suitable forest but, being tied to lower-montane broad-leaved woodland, is potentially vulnerable to habitat clearance at its lower elevational limits.

Author: W.W.Sm. & Cave · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Nepal, Halda monograph The Genus Daphne

Thymelaeaceae

Daphne tangutica

by G & P Jürgens

Maxim.

Sikkim 2006 380 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 379 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tamrong 3200m, May
BhutanPG2011 486 scaled
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Warrtlang-La, 4350m June

Description

Daphne tangutica is distributed across a broad elevational and geographical range from the eastern Himalayas to central and western China, with the core of its distribution in Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces. GBIF records over 1,150 occurrences, predominantly from China, with additional records from Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The species inhabits Rhododendron scrub, alpine meadows, rocky slopes, and open coniferous forest margins at 2,500–4,500 m elevation. Collections from Tamrong in West Bengal at 3,200 m and from the Warrtlang-La along the Ludlow–Sherriff Trail in Bhutan at 4,350 m demonstrate its remarkable altitudinal amplitude within the eastern Himalayan region.
Daphne tangutica is an evergreen shrub, typically 0.5–1.5 m tall, compact and densely branched. Leaves are alternate, clustered towards the branch tips, oblanceolate to elliptic, 3–8 cm long, coriaceous, dark glossy green above and paler beneath, with entire revolute margins. Flowers are borne in dense terminal clusters of 3–8, each flower with a tubular hypanthium 10–14 mm long, the four spreading lobes white internally and purplish-rose externally. The flowers are intensely fragrant. Stamens are eight, in two whorls, inserted on the hypanthium tube. The fruit is an ovoid drupe, 6–8 mm long, red at maturity, containing a single seed.
Daphne tangutica was described by Maximowicz in 1882 from material collected in Gansu. It is closely related to D. retusa, and the two species have been confused in herbaria; D. tangutica is generally distinguished by its longer, more lanceolate leaves and more elongate hypanthium tube. The occurrence at 4,350 m on the Warrtlang-La approaches the upper limit for any Daphne species in the Himalayas and attests to the species' tolerance of extreme alpine conditions. It has been widely introduced into horticulture in Europe and North America, prized for its fragrant spring flowers and compact evergreen habit.

Author: Maxim. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Brickell & Mathew: Daphne — The Genus in the Wild and in Cultivation (1976)

Daphniphyllaceae

Daphniphyllum chartaceum

by GP Jürgens

K.Rosenth.

Bhutan2012 636
Bhutan Tserang 1660m, June

Description

Daphniphyllum chartaceum is an evergreen tree or large shrub of the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burmese uplands, recorded by GBIF, with around 140 occurrences, from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Vietnam and Myanmar. It is a component of moist, broad-leaved evergreen and warm-temperate forest, growing on humid slopes, in ravines and along forest margins, typically between about 1500 and 2500 m. The photographed plant from Tserang in Bhutan, at roughly 1660 m and recorded in June, is representative of its mid-elevation, subtropical-to-warm-temperate forest habitat, where it occupies the understorey to mid-canopy of dense, evergreen Himalayan woodland under a humid, monsoon-influenced climate.

The species is a dioecious tree with smooth bark and stout twigs bearing leaves crowded toward the branch tips. The leaves are simple, alternate but often appearing pseudo-whorled, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, leathery to chartaceous (papery, as the epithet indicates), entire-margined, with the lower surface usually glaucous and conspicuously papillose, and frequently reddish petioles. Being dioecious, male and female flowers are borne on separate trees in axillary racemes; the flowers are small and apetalous, the males with numerous stamens and the females with a unilocular to bilocular ovary, lacking showy perianth. The fruit is a small, ellipsoid, one-seeded drupe, bluish-black and often glaucous at maturity, borne in short axillary clusters.

Daphniphyllum is the sole genus of Daphniphyllaceae, an isolated family of eastern and southern Asia of considerable phylogenetic interest, placed near Saxifragales and noted for its distinctive Daphniphyllum alkaloids. D. chartaceum is distinguished within the genus by its papery, glaucous-papillose leaves and has been associated with the variable D. himalense complex, with which it shares its montane Himalayan range. The fleshy drupes are dispersed by birds, and the dioecious breeding system enforces outcrossing. The species is reasonably widespread across the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burma and is not regarded as threatened, though, like many evergreen forest trees of the region, local populations are sensitive to deforestation and land-use change.

Author: K.Rosenth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Huang's monograph of Daphniphyllum

Lardizabalaceae

Decaisnea insignis

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Sikkim 2006 329 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1700m, May

Description

Decaisnea insignis is a deciduous shrub of the Himalaya and southwest China, native to China, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, and now widely grown as an ornamental, accounting for numerous records in Europe, North America and elsewhere. It occupies moist temperate forest, forest margins, ravines and shrubby slopes, typically between about 1500 and 3500 m. The photographed plant from Chaana in West Bengal, India, at roughly 1700 m and flowering in May, is characteristic of cool, humid mid-montane forest where it favours sheltered, well-watered situations with rich, humus-laden soils.

The plant is an erect, sparsely branched shrub with stout, pithy stems. The leaves are large, alternate, imparipinnate, with numerous ovate to ovate-lanceolate, entire, acuminate, glaucous-backed leaflets. The flowers are borne in pendulous terminal panicles and are functionally unisexual, with six narrow, greenish-yellow, petaloid sepals and no true petals. The most distinctive feature is the fruit: pendent, cylindrical, sausage-shaped follicles that ripen a striking metallic blue, the fleshy interior containing a translucent, sweetish pulp embedding numerous flattened black seeds, giving rise to the common name dead man's fingers.

The genus commemorates the French botanist Joseph Decaisne, and insignis alludes to its remarkable blue fruit. Some authors treat the blue-fruited Himalayan plants as D. insignis distinct from the yellow-fruited Chinese D. fargesii, though the two are frequently united. The Lardizabalaceae is a small, mainly East Asian family of climbers and shrubs; D. insignis is anomalous as an erect, non-twining member. The conspicuous fleshy fruits suggest vertebrate dispersal, and the species is widely cultivated and not threatened.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, A Revision of the Lardizabalaceae

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium brunonianum

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Nepal 99 666 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 5500m, July

Description

Delphinium brunonianum is a high-alpine perennial of the inner Himalaya and adjacent Central Asian ranges, recorded from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iraq eastward through northern India, Nepal and Bhutan into south-western China (Tibetan plateau), with some 698 georeferenced GBIF occurrences across this circum-Tibetan arc. It inhabits open stony slopes, screes, moraines and short alpine turf at extreme elevations, typically between about 4000 and 5500 m. The photographed plant from the Kagmara La in West Nepal at 5500 m in July represents the upper range of the species, where it flowers briefly during the short post-monsoon window on wind-exposed, gravelly ground.

It forms a low, tufted herb 8-20 cm tall arising from a stout rootstock, the whole plant glandular-pubescent and emitting a strong musky odour. The leaves are mostly basal, reniform to orbicular in outline and palmately three- to five-lobed with crenate segments. The few-flowered inflorescence bears unusually large, nodding, inflated flowers; the five petaloid sepals are pale to deep blue-purple, broadly ovate, the upper one prolonged into a short blunt spur, and the dark, hairy petals form a contrasting central boss. The fruit is a cluster of three erect, glandular follicles releasing winged seeds.

The species belongs to Delphinium sect. Brunoniana, a small group of musk-scented, large-flowered high-altitude larkspurs. Its strong scent and inflated corolla are associated with bumblebee pollination in a cold, insect-poor environment. Widely used in Tibetan and Himalayan folk medicine, it remains locally common across a vast remote range and is not considered threatened, though it is restricted to fragile alpine habitats sensitive to climate warming and grazing pressure.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Munz monograph of Delphinium

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium caeruleum

by GP Jürgens

Jacquem. ex Cambess.

Bhutan2015 676
Bhutan Chele-La 3960m, October

Description

Delphinium caeruleum is an alpine larkspur of the high Himalaya and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, distributed across south-western China, northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, well represented in GBIF with 646 occurrences. It inhabits dry alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, sandy and gravelly turf and rocky pastures, typically between 3000 and 5000 m, often on relatively arid, well-drained ground. The photographed plant was found at Chele-La in Bhutan at 3960 m in October, a notably late flowering for this short, cushion-like high-elevation species at the close of the growing season on an exposed pass.

It is a low perennial herb, often only 5-30 cm tall, arising from a slender taproot, with erect or ascending stems and finely dissected leaves divided into narrow linear segments, the lower leaves long-petiolate. The flowers are few in a lax raceme or sometimes solitary, and are an intense deep blue to violet-blue. Each flower has five showy petaloid sepals, the upper one prolonged backward into a slender spur, enclosing the smaller true petals, of which the upper pair forms the nectariferous spur and the lower pair is often bearded. The fruit is a cluster of three erect, glabrous to pubescent follicles releasing winged or scaly seeds.

The spurred flower with its concealed nectar reservoir is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees, abundant in Himalayan alpine grassland. Within Delphinium it belongs to a group of dwarf, blue-flowered, plateau and high-alpine larkspurs. Like other members of the genus it contains diterpenoid alkaloids and is toxic to livestock, which contributes to its persistence in grazed pasture. Wide-ranging and locally common across the Tibetan and Himalayan highlands, it is of least concern, and several Sino-Himalayan Delphinium species, this among them, feature in traditional Tibetan medicine.

Author: Jacquem. ex Cambess. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Munz: A Revision of Delphinium

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium cooperi

by GP Jürgens

Munz

Bhutan2012 184
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3200m September
Bhutan2012 185
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3200m September

Description

Delphinium cooperi is a Himalayan larkspur of restricted range, recorded principally from Bhutan and Nepal, with only about 42 GBIF occurrences reflecting its narrow distribution. It grows on open alpine and subalpine slopes, meadow margins and among scrub in cool, moist montane settings. The photographed plant in the Haa (Haar) valley of western Bhutan at 3200 m, flowering in September, captures its late-season anthesis in the high inner valleys, where it occupies humus-rich, well-drained ground in a cool, monsoon-influenced climate. Its limited recorded range marks it as a regional endemic of the eastern Himalaya.

The species is an erect perennial herb arising from a fibrous or somewhat thickened rootstock. The leaves are palmately divided into several cuneate, toothed or further-lobed segments, larger and longer-petiolate toward the base and reduced upward. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of zygomorphic flowers in shades of blue to violet; as in all Delphinium the upper sepal is prolonged backward into a conspicuous spur that encloses the nectariferous petal spurs. Stamens are numerous and the gynoecium of free carpels matures into a cluster of erect, many-seeded follicles that split along the inner suture to shed angular seeds.

Delphinium belongs to the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, within the tribe Delphinieae characterised by spurred, bilaterally symmetrical flowers. The long-spurred corolla of D. cooperi is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees that probe the nectar spurs. As with many members of the genus, the plant contains toxic diterpenoid alkaloids that deter grazing. Given its apparently narrow eastern-Himalayan range and modest population records, the species warrants attention as a potentially vulnerable regional endemic dependent on intact subalpine habitat.

Author: Munz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Munz Delphinium monograph

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium densiflorum

by G & P Jürgens

Duthie ex Huth

Garw 2005 388 ergebnis scaled
Garw 2005 404 ergebnis scaled
India Garhwal Ali 3140m, September

Description

Delphinium densiflorum is a herbaceous perennial of the western and central Himalaya, recorded from India, Nepal and adjacent China (Xizang), with some 70 georeferenced occurrences documented in GBIF. It inhabits subalpine and alpine meadows, open slopes, forest margins and rocky grassland, where it flowers in the late monsoon. The plant illustrated was photographed in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya near Ali at about 3140 m in September, a typical elevation; across its range it generally occupies the belt from roughly 2800 to 4000 m, favouring moist, well-drained soils with abundant summer rainfall.

The species forms an erect, simple or branched stem arising from a fibrous to slightly tuberous rootstock, clothed below with petiolate, palmately divided leaves whose laminae are deeply cut into narrow, toothed lobes. As the specific epithet implies, the inflorescence is a dense, many-flowered raceme of strongly zygomorphic flowers. Each flower has five petaloid sepals, the uppermost prolonged into a conspicuous backward-pointing spur, and small petals modified into nectaries concealed within. The flowers are typically deep blue to violet; the fruit is a cluster of several erect, beaked follicles releasing numerous angular, scaly seeds.

Delphinium densiflorum belongs to the large genus Delphinium (Ranunculaceae), of which the Himalaya is a notable centre of diversity. Like other larkspurs it contains diterpenoid alkaloids and is poisonous to grazing livestock, a trait that influences its persistence in heavily pastured alpine meadows. The spurred flowers are adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. No major conservation concern is recognised, though localised pressure from grazing and habitat disturbance affects subalpine populations across the region.

Author: Duthie ex Huth · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Munz Monograph of the Genus Delphinium

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium glaciale

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 95 415 G723 ergebnis
Nepal Jaisuli Kund 4200m October

Description

Delphinium glaciale is a high-alpine larkspur distributed across the central and eastern Himalaya, with documented occurrences in Nepal, India, Bhutan and southern Tibet (China); GBIF records some 85 collections from this range. It is a plant of the upper alpine and subnival zones, typically encountered between roughly 4000 and 5000 m on open screes, moraines, glacial forelands and stony alpine turf, as reflected by the population photographed near Jaisuli Kund in Nepal at about 4200 m in October. It tolerates a short growing season, intense insolation and prolonged snow cover.

The species is a dwarf, cushion-forming or compactly tufted perennial herb arising from a stout woody rootstock. Stems are short, ascending and densely covered, like the foliage, in spreading whitish to yellowish hairs that lend the plant a shaggy appearance. The leaves are palmately divided into narrow segments, mostly basal or crowded toward the stem base. The inflorescence is few-flowered and condensed; the zygomorphic flowers are deep blue to violet-blue, the posterior sepal prolonged into a stout spur enclosing two nectariferous petals, the whole densely pubescent externally. The fruit is a cluster of erect, hairy follicles releasing small angular seeds.

Within Delphinium the species belongs to the assemblage of dwarf, glandular- or villous-haired Sino-Himalayan high-alpine larkspurs adapted to glacial habitats, a feature echoed in the epithet glaciale. Its compact habit and dense indumentum are classic adaptations to wind exposure and cold. Like most members of the genus it contains diterpenoid alkaloids and is toxic to livestock. No specific conservation assessment has been published; its restriction to remote subnival terrain confers natural protection, though high-altitude warming and habitat shifts may threaten such narrowly zoned alpine specialists.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Munz Monograph of Delphinium