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.

Brassicaceae

Erysimum pachycarpum

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 2009 88 ergebnis
Nepal Samthang 2410m, May

Description

Erysimum pachycarpum is a Himalayan wallflower distributed across Nepal, Bhutan, northern India, and extending into southwestern China (Tibet, Yunnan). GBIF documents 39 occurrences from these countries. The species inhabits dry rocky slopes, open scrubland, disturbed ground along trails, and stony riverbanks in the warm to cool temperate zone, at elevations from approximately 1,800 to 3,500 m. The photograph from Samthang in Nepal at 2,410 m, taken in May, shows the species at a mid-elevation site during its spring flowering period.
The plant is a biennial or short-lived perennial herb, 20–60 cm tall, with erect, usually unbranched stems covered in appressed, medifixed (malpighian) trichomes characteristic of the genus. Basal leaves are oblanceolate, 3–8 cm long, with entire to sinuate-dentate margins, forming a rosette that may wither at flowering; cauline leaves are narrowly lanceolate, sessile, progressively smaller upward. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal raceme that elongates considerably in fruit. Flowers are tetramerous with yellow petals, 8–12 mm long, spatulate, clawed. Stamens six, tetradynamous. The silique is stout and thick-walled — hence the epithet pachycarpum (thick-fruited) — erect to slightly spreading, 3–6 cm long, quadrangular in cross-section, densely covered with appressed trichomes. Seeds are oblong, narrowly winged.
Erysimum pachycarpum is distinguished from other Himalayan Erysimum species primarily by its robust, thickened siliques and relatively large flowers. The genus Erysimum is taxonomically challenging due to frequent hybridisation and subtle morphological boundaries between species, and molecular studies are ongoing to resolve relationships within the Himalayan clade. The species is not currently assessed as threatened and appears locally common in suitable open, dry habitats across its range.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 8, Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1

Phrymaceae

Erythranthe nepalensis

by G & P Jürgens

(Benth.) G.L.Nesom

Bhutan2014 855
Bhutan Thimphu 2600m, May

Description

Erythranthe nepalensis is a small wetland herb of temperate East and South Asia, recorded from Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bhutan, with around 2199 georeferenced occurrences in GBIF. It grows in damp, open ground: stream banks, ditch margins, wet meadows, seepages, rice-field bunds and moist rock crevices from the foothills into the temperate montane zone. The photographed plant from Thimphu in Bhutan at 2600 m in May is characteristic of such cool, moist Himalayan habitats, where it flowers in spring along watercourses and on dripping banks.

It is a slender annual or short-lived perennial herb with weak, decumbent to ascending, often rooting stems forming low mats. The leaves are opposite, small, ovate to broadly ovate, palmately veined, with a few shallow teeth and short petioles. The flowers are solitary in the leaf axils on slender pedicels; the calyx is tubular-campanulate and angled-ribbed, with short triangular lobes, and the corolla is bilabiate and yellow, the throat marked with reddish-brown to purplish spots and the lower lip prominent. There are four didynamous stamens, and the fruit is an oblong capsule enclosed by the persistent ribbed calyx, releasing numerous tiny seeds.

Formerly placed in Mimulus (as Mimulus tenellus var. nepalensis), the species was transferred to Erythranthe by G.L. Nesom following the molecular recircumscription that divided the old Mimulus among several genera and moved them from Scrophulariaceae to Phrymaceae. The spotted, bilabiate yellow flowers are adapted to bee pollination, and the plant's affinity for moist, disturbed ground allows ready local colonisation. Common and widespread across its range, it is of no particular conservation concern.

Author: (Benth.) G.L.Nesom · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Taxonomy of Erythranthe (Phrymaceae) (Nesom)

Fabaceae

Erythrina arborescens

by GP Jürgens

Roxb.

Bhutan2015 65
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 1900m, October
Bhutan2012 464
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m, September

Description

Erythrina arborescens is a Himalayan to Southeast Asian coral tree distributed across China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Japan and Thailand, with about 369 GBIF occurrences spanning this wide subtropical to warm-temperate range. It grows in open broad-leaved forest, forest margins, valley slopes and disturbed ground, generally from about 1300 to 3000 m. The trees photographed near Wangdi Phodrang in Bhutan at about 1900 m in October and at about 2500 m in September illustrate its mid-elevation valley habitat, where its scarlet flower spikes appear after the leaves toward the close of the monsoon.

The species is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree with a stout trunk and branches armed with scattered conical prickles. The leaves are alternate and trifoliolate, with broadly ovate to rhombic leaflets, the terminal one largest, on a long prickly petiole. The inflorescence is a dense terminal raceme of large, showy, bright red papilionaceous flowers in which the broad standard petal is conspicuously enlarged while the wings and keel are reduced, an arrangement adapted to bird pollination. The fruit is an elongate, torulose, dehiscent legume constricted between the few shining red-brown seeds.

Erythrina is a pantropical genus of about 130 species notable for ornithophilous, nectar-rich flowers and seeds containing toxic isoquinoline alkaloids. E. arborescens is among the few species extending into temperate Himalayan elevations, its post-monsoon flowering and copious nectar attracting sunbirds and other nectarivorous birds that serve as pollinators. Widely distributed and tolerant of disturbance, it is of least concern; it is locally valued as a shade and ornamental tree and features in traditional medicine across its range.

Author: Roxb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Krukoff & Barneby studies of Erythrina

Fabaceae

Erythrina stricta

by GP Jürgens

Roxb.

Nepal1992 23 P32 ergebnis
Nepal Kharang 1250m March 
Nepal1992 84 P118 ergebnis
Nepal Kharang 1250m, March 

Description

Erythrina stricta Roxb. is a deciduous coral tree widely distributed across tropical and subtropical Asia, recorded from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines; its GBIF dataset of 346 occurrences reflects both wild populations and frequent planting. It occurs in open subtropical forest, forest margins, scrub and along cultivated land in the foothills, broadly from the lowlands to about 1500 m. The photographed tree at Kharang in Nepal at about 1250 m, flowering in March, exemplifies its dry-season, leafless flowering in the warm subtropical hill zone of the outer Himalaya, conspicuous as a flush of scarlet bloom on bare branches.

The species is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree with a straight bole and armed branches bearing scattered conical prickles. The leaves are alternate and trifoliolate with broadly ovate to deltoid, entire leaflets, the terminal one rhombic-ovate and larger than the laterals; they are typically shed before flowering. The inflorescence is a dense, erect, terminal raceme of showy papilionaceous flowers; the large, bright scarlet to crimson standard is narrow and nearly straight, much exceeding the small keel and wings, and the nectar-rich flowers attract birds. The fruit is an elongate, torulose, constricted legume that splits to release several reddish, bean-like seeds.

Erythrina (Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, tribe Phaseoleae) is a pantropical genus of bird-pollinated coral trees; E. stricta belongs to the Asian assemblage with erect, narrow-standard flowers on leafless branches. It is widely planted as an ornamental, shade and support tree and as a living fence, and its bark and seeds contain Erythrina alkaloids of pharmacological interest. Broadly distributed, fast-growing and commonly cultivated, it is of no conservation concern and serves ecologically as an early dry-season nectar source for birds and insects.

Author: Roxb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of British India, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Krukoff & Barneby — Conspectus of the genus Erythrina

Orchideaceae

Eulophia dabia 

by GP Jürgens

Hochr.

Nepal 2001 226 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal Gorkha Tullikot 2000m, May

Description

Eulophia dabia is a terrestrial orchid distributed across the temperate and subtropical belts of Central and southern Asia, with verified records (some 166 GBIF occurrences) spanning China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, reflecting a broadly Irano-Turanian to Sino-Himalayan range. In the Himalaya it favours open grassy slopes, scrubland and disturbed pasture on well-drained soils, flowering with the onset of pre-monsoon warmth. The plant illustrated was photographed near Tullikot in the Gorkha district of central Nepal at about 2000 m in May, typical of the species' preference for sunlit, seasonally dry meadow habitats at middle elevations.

The species is a tuberous geophyte producing subterranean, somewhat cormous pseudobulbs from which arise erect, often leafless or scarcely leafy flowering scapes that emerge before or with the foliage. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, plicate and grass-like, sheathing at the base. Flowers are borne in a loose terminal raceme; the tepals are narrow and spreading, typically dull greenish to purplish-brown, while the trilobed labellum bears longitudinal lamellae or papillose crests and a short spur or saccate base. The fruit is a pendent, ellipsoid dehiscent capsule releasing dust-like seeds adapted for wind dispersal and obligate mycorrhizal germination.

Within Eulophia, a large pantropical genus, E. dabia belongs to the group of dry-ground terrestrials whose seasonal, drought-deciduous habit suits monsoonal climates. Like all orchids it is listed under CITES Appendix II, restricting international trade, though the species itself is not regarded as globally threatened owing to its wide range. Its dependence on mycorrhizal fungi and on grazed or open grassland makes it sensitive to land-use change and overgrazing at the local scale.

Author: Hochr. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, The Orchids of the Himalaya (King & Pantling), CITES Appendix II

Celastraceae

Euonymus frigidus

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Sikkim 2006 184 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Samadan 2300m, May
BhutanPG2011 82 ergebnis scaled
Bhutan Menchuang 2850m, June

Description

Euonymus frigidus is a Himalayan spindle tree distributed from central Nepal through northeast India, Sikkim, Bhutan, and northern Myanmar to southwest China (Yunnan, Sichuan, Xizang). GBIF records over 1,570 occurrences, with the majority from China and the eastern Himalayas. The species inhabits cool-temperate and subalpine broadleaved and mixed forests, often growing along forest margins, stream gullies, and shaded slopes at elevations of 1,800–3,200 m. Collections from Samadan in West Bengal at 2,300 m and from Menchuang in Bhutan at 2,850 m illustrate its typical occurrence in the mid-elevation broadleaved forest zone of the eastern Himalayan slopes.
Euonymus frigidus is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching 3–8 m in height, with smooth, greyish-green bark on younger branches. Leaves are opposite, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 6–14 cm long, acuminate at the apex, cuneate at the base, with finely crenate-serrate margins, glabrous on both surfaces, and turning reddish-purple in autumn. The inflorescence is an axillary, dichasial cyme bearing 7–15 flowers on slender peduncles. Flowers are tetramerous, small, 6–8 mm in diameter, with greenish-yellow to purplish petals and a conspicuous four-lobed disc. The fruit is a deeply four-lobed capsule, pink to crimson at maturity, splitting to reveal four seeds each enclosed in a bright orange aril — a striking ornamental feature.
The specific epithet 'frigidus' alludes to the cold-temperate habitats in which this species predominantly occurs. Euonymus frigidus is distinguished from the closely related E. hamiltonianus by its generally larger leaves, more deeply lobed capsules, and preference for higher elevations. The conspicuous arillate fruits are an important food source for frugivorous birds, including minivets and laughingthrushes, which serve as effective dispersal agents. The species is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental in European and North American gardens for its vivid autumn colour and decorative fruit.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan (1991)

Asteraceae

Eupatorium cannabinum

by GP Jürgens

L.

Bhutan2012 1208
Bhutan Trashigang 1150m, October

Description

Eupatorium cannabinum, hemp-agrimony, is a wide-ranging temperate herb whose centre of distribution lies across Europe and western Asia; GBIF records overwhelmingly from France, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria and many other European countries total over 687,000 occurrences, attesting to its abundance. In Asia related populations extend into the Himalaya, and the species was photographed at Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1150 m in October, in the warm subtropical lower valleys. Throughout its range it favours damp, fertile ground: marsh margins, ditches, wet meadows, streambanks and moist woodland clearings, flowering in late summer and autumn.

It is a robust erect perennial herb 0.5 to 1.5 m tall, with stout, often reddish, finely downy stems arising from a short rhizome. The opposite leaves are palmately divided into three to five lanceolate, toothed, hemp-like segments (hence cannabinum), the uppermost sometimes simple. The numerous small flower heads are crowded into dense, flat-topped terminal corymbs; each narrow head contains only a few tubular florets, discoid and dull pink to mauve, with conspicuously exserted bifid style branches giving the inflorescence a soft fuzzy appearance. The fruit is a small black five-angled cypsela bearing a pappus of fine white bristles.

The species belongs to tribe Eupatorieae; following segregation of many New World species into other genera, Eupatorium s.str. is now a small mainly Eurasian and North American group, of which E. cannabinum is the principal European representative. Its nectar-rich heads are heavily visited by butterflies, hoverflies and bees, an important late-season pollinator resource. It contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids and has a long history in folk medicine. Common on damp disturbed ground, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora Europaea, Flora of Bhutan, Eupatorieae systematics (King & Robinson monograph)

Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbia griffithii

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f.

Bhutan2014 976
Bhutan Chele-La 3400m, May
Bhutan2014 397
Bhutan Chele-La 3400m, May
Bh09 245 P408
Bhutan 2009
Sikkim 2006 352 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 368 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tamrong 2650m, May

Description

Euphorbia griffithii is a herbaceous perennial spurge of the eastern Himalayan mountains, with 538 GBIF occurrences spanning China, Bhutan, Myanmar, India and Nepal, alongside numerous cultivated records from Britain, Germany, France and North America, reflecting its popularity as a hardy garden perennial. It grows in open subalpine meadows, forest clearings, scrub and grassy slopes in the upper temperate to subalpine zone. It was recorded on the Chele-La in Bhutan at about 3400 m and at Tamrong in West Bengal, India, at about 2650 m, both in May, when the bracts colour vividly at the start of the growing season.

It is an erect, clump-forming herb arising from a creeping rhizome, the unbranched or sparingly branched stems exuding white latex when cut. The leaves are alternate, oblong to oblanceolate, entire, often flushed reddish and frequently with a pale midrib. The inflorescence is a terminal umbel-like cyme of cyathia, each cyathium a cup of fused bracts enclosing reduced flowers; the floral leaves and bracts beneath the cyathia turn fiery orange-red, providing the conspicuous display, while the involucral glands are typically yellowish. The fruit is a three-lobed capsule splitting into mericarps.

Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) is one of the largest plant genera, and E. griffithii belongs to its temperate, rhizomatous, herbaceous element rather than the succulent xerophytes. Long in cultivation, with selections such as the well-known coloured-bracted cultivars, it is widespread and secure across its native range. Its brilliant bract colouration and montane meadow habitat make it both a horticulturally important and biogeographically representative member of the eastern Himalayan herbaceous flora.

Author: Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Radcliffe-Smith's treatment of Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae)

Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbia luteoviridis

by GP Jürgens

D.G.Long

Sikkim2004 412 P707
Sikkim/India Lachung 3700m May
Sikkim 2006 128 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 127 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Molley 3630m, May

Description

Euphorbia luteoviridis D.G.Long is an eastern Himalayan spurge recorded from Nepal, India, China and Bhutan (NP, IN, CN, BT), with GBIF documenting about 38 occurrences across this narrow range. It is a plant of the upper temperate to subalpine zone, growing on open slopes, forest margins, rocky banks and grazed pastures generally between about 3000 and 4000 m. The images from Lachung in Sikkim at 3700 m and Molley in West Bengal at 3630 m, both in May, illustrate its spring flowering, when the yellowish-green cyathial bracts emerge against the recovering alpine sward.

It is a perennial herb arising from a woody rootstock, producing one to several erect or ascending stems. The leaves are alternate, entire, oblong to oblanceolate or spathulate, with whorled, broader floral leaves subtending the inflorescence. This is the characteristic euphorbioid pseudanthium: a terminal pleiochasium with several rays, each cyathium subtended by yellow-green bracts and enclosing a single naked female flower surrounded by reduced male flowers, with crescentic nectar glands on the rim. The fruit is a three-lobed schizocarpic capsule splitting explosively into cocci; all parts exude the toxic milky latex typical of the genus.

Euphorbia luteoviridis was described comparatively recently by D.G.Long during work on the eastern Himalayan flora, and belongs to the herbaceous perennial spurges well represented in the high mountains. Its restricted distribution gives it significance as a regional endemic, while the latex confers chemical defence against herbivores in the grazed pastures it inhabits. No global threat assessment is widely published, but its limited range warrants attention.

Author: D.G.Long · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Nepal, Radcliffe-Smith treatments of Himalayan Euphorbia

Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbia pseudosikkimensis 

by G & P Jürgens

(Hurus. & Tanaka) Radcl.-Sm.

Sikkim 2006 323 ergebnis
India Sikkim Ringi-Chu 2250m, May
Sikkim 2006 464 ergebnis
India Sikkim Ringi-Chu 2250m, May
Sikkim 2006 324 ergebnis
India Sikkim Ringi-Chu 2250m, May

Description

Euphorbia pseudosikkimensis is a robust perennial spurge native to the eastern Himalayas, occurring in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and adjacent parts of China. It inhabits moist forests, forest clearings, and stream banks at 1,800–3,000 m.

The plant forms tall, erect stems up to 1.5 m high, with whorled, oblong-lanceolate leaves that are dark green above and paler beneath. The inflorescence is a large, showy cyathium with conspicuous bright yellow-green glands, giving the impression of striking yellow flowers in spring. Like all Euphorbia species, it exudes a milky white latex when stems or leaves are broken.

In traditional medicine of the region, the latex has been used cautiously as a purgative, though it is irritant and toxic in larger quantities. The species is sometimes confused with E. sikkimensis, from which it differs in leaf shape and gland morphology.

Author: (Hurus. & Tanaka) Radcl.-Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan, eFlora of China