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.

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis oederi var. sinensis

by GP Jürgens

(Maxim.) Hurus.

BhutanPG2011 588
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Miluthang, 4500m July

Description

Pedicularis oederi var. sinensis is a hemiparasitic perennial of the high eastern Himalaya and Sino-Himalayan ranges, distributed across China, Bhutan and India (CN, BT, IN), with some 195 documented occurrences. It is a plant of open alpine turf, stony slopes, moist meadows and the margins of snowbeds in the subalpine to alpine and subnival belts, typically between about 3500 and 5000 m. The collection illustrated here was made along the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Miluthang in Bhutan at 4500 m in July, an elevation and timing characteristic of its summer flowering in the wake of melting snow, where it derives part of its nutrition by parasitising the roots of neighbouring graminoids and herbs.

The plant forms a low, tufted rosette arising from a stout, fleshy taproot and a short caudex, with one to several erect or ascending, sparingly leafy flowering stems. The leaves are mostly basal, oblong-lanceolate in outline and pinnatisect, the segments oblong and serrate-crenate, the rachis often woolly. The inflorescence is a dense, oblong to capitate terminal spike subtended by leafy bracts. The corolla is two-lipped and yellow, the galea usually marked with red-brown or purple at the apex and beakless, hooded over the four didynamous stamens, while the lower lip is three-lobed and spreading. The calyx is tubular and lobed; the fruit is an obliquely ovoid, compressed capsule containing several seeds.

The genus Pedicularis (lousewort) reaches its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalayan alpine flora, and P. oederi is a circumpolar-alpine species whose Himalayan populations are treated as var. sinensis. Its beakless galea places it among the non-rostrate louseworts, and like its congeners it relies on long-tongued bumblebees for pollination. As a facultative root hemiparasite it can influence the composition of alpine plant communities. Though locally common across its range, it is sensitive to grazing pressure and to climatic shifts affecting the duration of snow cover.

Author: (Maxim.) Hurus. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Pedicularis of the Sino-Himalaya (Yamazaki monograph)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis pantlingii

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Sikkim2003 205 P285
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August
BhutanPG2011 719 ergebnis
Bhutan Timphu 2490m, July

Description

Pedicularis pantlingii is an alpine hemiparasitic herb of the eastern Himalaya, distributed across India (notably Sikkim), China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, with the Austrian (AT) record almost certainly representing cultivated or herbarium-derived material rather than a natural occurrence. The roughly 114 georeferenced collections concentrate along the high mountain arc from Sikkim and Bhutan into adjacent south-eastern Tibet. It favours moist alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, streamsides and the margins of rhododendron and dwarf-shrub thickets. As the photographed material from Sikkim's Dzongri at 3900 m in August and from Bhutan near Thimphu at 2490 m in July shows, the species ranges from upper temperate to alpine elevations, flowering through the summer monsoon when these pastures are at their most lush.

Like most members of the genus, it is a semi-parasitic perennial drawing water and nutrients from neighbouring roots via haustoria. The stems arise from a short rootstock and bear leaves that are oblong to lanceolate in outline and pinnatisect, the segments toothed and often crisped at the margin. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or raceme, each subtended by a leafy bract, with a tubular, toothed calyx. The corolla is strongly two-lipped and characteristically galeate: the hooded upper lip (galea) is frequently prolonged into a slender beak enclosing the four didynamous stamens, while the spreading three-lobed lower lip forms a landing platform for bumblebee pollinators. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid, laterally compressed capsule containing several seeds.

The genus Pedicularis (lousewort) is exceptionally diverse in the Sino-Himalayan region, which forms its global centre of speciation, and the elaborate corolla beaks reflect tight coevolution with long-tongued bumblebees. Commemorating the collector Robert Pantling of the Sikkim botanical surveys, P. pantlingii is a regional endemic of restricted range. Although not formally assessed as threatened, its dependence on intact alpine pasture makes it sensitive to overgrazing and climate-driven upslope shifts of montane vegetation.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Tsoong's Monograph of the Genus Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis pauciflora

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain ex Maxim.) Pennell

Bhutan2012 290 ergebnis
Bhutan Tsotchentchen 3980m, June
Sikkim2003 173 P234 ergebnis
Sikkim Dzongri, 3900m August
Sikkim2003 375 G526 ergebnis
Sikkim Dzongri, 3900m August

Description

Pedicularis pauciflora is a hemiparasitic herb of the eastern Himalaya, distributed across Nepal, NE India (Sikkim, West Bengal) and Bhutan, with GBIF documenting some 43 georeferenced records concentrated in this narrow arc. It is a plant of the alpine and subalpine zone, occupying moist meadows, open turf and rocky slopes between roughly 3,500 and 4,200 m. The photographed populations at Tsotchentchen in Bhutan (3,980 m, flowering in June) and at Dzongri in Sikkim (3,900 m, August) typify its habitat in cool, well-drained alpine grassland kept moist by monsoon precipitation and snowmelt.

It is a perennial forming a slender, often few-stemmed tuft from a fibrous rootstock. The leaves are pinnatisect, the lobes oblong and crenate-dentate, glabrous to sparsely hairy and arranged in a basal rosette with a few reduced cauline leaves. As the epithet pauciflora indicates, the inflorescence is few-flowered, the flowers borne in the upper leaf axils. The zygomorphic corolla is bilabiate with a galeate upper lip prolonged into a slender beak and a spreading three-lobed lower lip, in shades of pink to purple-rose. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid capsule enclosing several seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, the genus exemplifies facultative root hemiparasitism, drawing water and nutrients from host roots via haustoria while retaining functional photosynthesis. The galeate, beaked corolla is an adaptation to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees prevalent at high elevation. Pedicularis is a notoriously large and taxonomically complex genus in the Himalaya, and P. pauciflora is best distinguished from allied species by its reduced flower number and beak morphology. Its restricted alpine range makes it potentially sensitive to grazing pressure and climatic shifts in the high Himalaya.

Author: (Prain ex Maxim.) Pennell · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Yamazaki: Revision of the Asiatic Pedicularis (Scrophulariaceae)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis regeliana

by GP Jürgens

Prain

BhutanPG2011 521
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4500m June

Description

Pedicularis regeliana is a high-alpine lousewort of the Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, with about 72 GBIF occurrences reflecting a restricted high-elevation range. It grows in alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, marshy turf and streamsides near the upper limit of vegetation, generally around 4000 to 4800 m. The plant photographed along the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail near Dem-Tso in Bhutan at about 4500 m in June illustrates its occurrence in damp alpine grassland and lake margins, flowering in early summer when the high pastures green after snowmelt.

The species is a perennial herb arising from a short rootstock, with erect or ascending stems and leaves that are pinnatisect to pinnatipartite, the segments narrow and toothed, in basal and cauline arrangements. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or raceme, each subtended by a leafy bract; the strongly zygomorphic corolla is two-lipped, with the upper lip (galea) hooded and often beaked and the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. The four didynamous stamens lie within the galea, and the fruit is a flattened capsule releasing several seeds.

Pedicularis is an exceptionally species-rich genus that, like other former Scrophulariaceae now placed in Orobanchaceae, comprises hemiparasites drawing water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring plants while retaining green, photosynthetic foliage. The genus reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where the varied galea shapes are tied to specialisation for bumblebee pollination. As a high-altitude endemic of limited range, P. regeliana is an alpine specialist sensitive to disturbance of montane meadows, though it has not been formally evaluated for threat status.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Prain's account of Indian Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis roylei

by GP Jürgens

Maxim

BhutanPG2011 543
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4600m June
Nepal 99 663 ergebnis
Nepal

Description

Pedicularis roylei is a Himalayan lousewort distributed from China and Pakistan eastward through Nepal, India and Bhutan, with more than 570 GBIF occurrences. It is a plant of moist alpine meadow, marshy turf and the margins of glacial pools and streamlets, characteristically growing at high elevation between about 3800 and 4800 m. The population photographed near Dem-Tso on the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail in Bhutan at 4600 m, flowering in June, with additional records in Nepal, illustrates its affinity for damp, short alpine swards near the snow line.

Like other Pedicularis it is a hemiparasitic perennial herb that attaches to the roots of neighbouring plants. It forms low tufts with a short rootstock, the stems few and ascending. The leaves are mostly basal and clustered, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect with toothed lobes, the cauline leaves fewer. The flowers are borne in a dense terminal head or short spike; the bilabiate corolla is pink to reddish-purple, with a galeate upper lip (galea) that is beakless or shortly hooded and a spreading, three-lobed lower lip. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule containing few seeds.

Pedicularis reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where root hemiparasitism and specialised pollination by long-tongued bumblebees have driven rapid speciation and floral diversification. P. roylei, described by Maximowicz, is widespread and not threatened, but as a parasite tied to particular alpine meadow hosts and pollinators it is a sensitive component of high-altitude grassland ecosystems.

Author: Maxim · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Prain account of Indo-Himalayan Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis roylei var. speciosa

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain) T.Yamaz.

Sikkim2004 427 G737
Sikkim/India Yumtahng 3500m May

Description

Pedicularis roylei var. speciosa is a hemiparasitic perennial of the eastern Himalaya, distributed across the high-montane and subalpine belt of southern China (Xizang and adjacent Yunnan) and Nepal, with populations extending into Sikkim and the Chumbi region. The variety is documented from a modest number of records (GBIF lists around 12 occurrences from CN and NP), reflecting both its restricted range and the limited collecting in its remote habitats. It occupies open alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, the margins of Rhododendron and Abies forest, and streamside flushes between roughly 3000 and 4300 m. The photographed plant from the Yumthang valley in northern Sikkim at about 3500 m, flowering in May, is typical of these subalpine pastures where snowmelt sustains a brief but vigorous flush of growth. As a root-hemiparasite, it draws water and minerals from neighbouring grasses and forbs via haustoria while retaining functional green foliage.

The plant forms a low, clumped herb arising from a stout caudex, with erect or ascending stems often clothed in soft hairs. The leaves are mostly basal and pinnatisect, with oblong-lanceolate segments that are themselves toothed or crenate, giving the foliage a fern-like texture. The inflorescence is a dense spike or capitate cluster of conspicuous flowers; var. speciosa is distinguished by its notably large, showy corollas. The bilabiate corolla is rose-pink to purplish, the galea (upper lip) prolonged into a slender, often beak-like apex that twists or curves, while the broad three-lobed lower lip forms a landing platform. The calyx is tubular and toothed, and the four didynamous stamens lie concealed within the galea. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid capsule containing several seeds.

Within the large and taxonomically complex genus Pedicularis, which reaches its global diversity peak in the Sino-Himalayan region, this taxon belongs to a group whose beaked galeas reflect specialised pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. The variety, based on the basionym described by Prain and later treated by T. Yamazaki, is sometimes folded into a broadly circumscribed P. roylei; GBIF accepts it at varietal rank. Its elaborate floral architecture exemplifies the radiation of corolla forms that has accompanied the genus's hemiparasitic lifestyle. Though not currently regarded as threatened, alpine Pedicularis are sensitive to grazing pressure and climate-driven shifts in the snowmelt regime, making long-term monitoring of Himalayan populations desirable.

Author: (Prain) T.Yamaz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2 Part 3, Flora of Nepal, A Revision of the Genus Pedicularis (Pennell; Yamazaki, Pedicularis of Eastern Asia)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis schizorrhyncha

by GP Jürgens

Prain

BhutanPG2011 532
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4650m June

Description

Pedicularis schizorrhyncha Prain is a high-alpine lousewort restricted to the eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, Bhutan and India, with only some 41 GBIF occurrences underscoring its narrow distribution and elevated habitat. It occupies moist alpine meadows, turf, seepage margins and the edges of glacial tarns, typically between about 4000 and 4800 m. The illustrated plant from the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Dem-Tso in Bhutan, at roughly 4650 m in June, is representative of its strict confinement to the cool, short-summer subnival belt near the upper limit of vascular plant growth.

The species is a low perennial hemiparasitic herb arising from a slender rootstock, with few erect or ascending stems bearing pinnately divided to pinnatisect leaves whose lobes are toothed and crisped. The flowers are borne in a short terminal spike, each subtended by a leaf-like bract; the calyx is tubular and toothed, and the strongly zygomorphic corolla has an upper lip or galea prolonged into a slender, downcurved, conspicuously bifid or cleft beak, the feature recalled by the epithet schizorrhyncha. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule.

Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae) is an enormous Sino-Himalayan radiation, and the long-beaked species form a coherent group adapted to specialised long-tongued bumblebee pollination. As a root hemiparasite, P. schizorrhyncha draws supplementary nutrients from neighbouring alpine plants. Its restricted range and sensitivity to alpine habitat change make it a species warranting monitoring, though it remains formally unassessed.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Prain and Tsoong monographic treatments of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis scullyana

by G & P Jürgens

Prain ex Maxim.

Nepal 99 332 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kalmura 4000m, June

Description

Pedicularis scullyana is an alpine hemiparasitic herb endemic to the Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan margins, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China across some 217 GBIF occurrences. The illustrated plant was photographed at Kalmura in West Nepal at about 4000 m in June. It inhabits open alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes and the margins of scrub between roughly 3500 and 4500 m, growing in the short turf where, like all lousewort, it draws water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring grasses and herbs through haustorial connections.

The plant is a perennial herb with a fascicled rootstock and erect or ascending stems. The leaves are alternate or sub-opposite, pinnatisect into closely toothed segments, giving the fern-like foliage typical of the genus. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or raceme; each has a tubular calyx and a strongly two-lipped corolla, the upper lip (galea) hooded and often beaked to enclose the anthers, the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. Pollination is by long-tongued bumblebees, and the fruit is a flattened capsule releasing several seeds.

Pedicularis is one of the largest genera of the Himalayan alpine flora and a notable example of an explosive radiation, with the diversity of galea and beak forms reflecting specialisation for bumblebee pollination. As facultative root hemiparasites, the species influence community composition by suppressing dominant graminoids. P. scullyana is a regional endemic of restricted range; while not formally assessed as threatened, such narrowly distributed alpines are sensitive to grazing intensity and climate-driven shifts in the alpine zone.

Author: Prain ex Maxim. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Yamazaki – Taxonomic Revision of Pedicularis (Himalaya)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis siphonantha

by GP Jürgens

D.Don

Sikkim2011 202
Sikkim Lachung 3000m, June
BhutanPG2011 735 01 01
Bhutan Haa-Valley, 2750m June
Bhutan2012 77
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Sikkim2003 115 P155
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m August

Description

Pedicularis siphonantha is a Himalayan lousewort distributed through southern China, Nepal, northern India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Myanmar and Pakistan, well represented in GBIF with 810 occurrences. It is a plant of moist alpine and subalpine meadows, open hillsides, Rhododendron scrub and streamside turf, mostly between 2700 and 4500 m. The accompanying records span its range and season: Lachung in Sikkim at 3000 m and the Haa Valley in Bhutan at 2750 m in June, and the higher Shele-La (4000 m) and slopes below Dzongri (4000 m) flowering on into August and September, reflecting a long summer-to-autumn anthesis across an altitudinal gradient.

It is a perennial herb with erect or ascending stems arising from a stout rootstock, bearing leaves that are pinnatisect into oblong, doubly toothed segments. The rose-pink to purplish-red flowers are crowded in terminal racemes; the corolla is strongly two-lipped, its most distinctive feature a long, slender, often curved or twisted tubular galea drawn out into a beak (the siphon-like form giving the epithet), with a spreading three-lobed lower lip. The four stamens lie under the galea, and the fruit is an obliquely ovoid capsule containing several seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, it is a hemiparasite, drawing water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring meadow plants through haustoria while retaining green photosynthetic foliage. The elongate corolla tube indicates pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. Pedicularis is exceptionally species-rich and difficult in the Sino-Himalaya, with corolla architecture central to species delimitation. Widespread and locally abundant, P. siphonantha is not regarded as threatened, though louseworts as a group are sensitive to changes in their host-rich alpine grassland communities.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Yamazaki: Pedicularis monograph

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis trichodonta

by G & P Jürgens

T.Yamaz.

BhutanPG2011 657 ergebnis
Bhutan Thitha-Tso, 4360m, July
BhutanPG2011 658 ergebnis
Bhutan Thitha-Tso, 4360m, July

Description

Pedicularis trichodonta is a perennial hemiparasitic herb native to the eastern Himalayas, recorded from Nepal, northeast India (Sikkim), and Bhutan. The species inhabits alpine meadows, moist turf, and Rhododendron scrub margins at elevations of 3,800–4,800 m, attaching to the roots of neighbouring grasses and other herbaceous hosts for supplementary water and nutrient uptake. It has been documented from the Thitha-Tso area in Bhutan at 4,360 m, flowering in July during the monsoon, when alpine meadows in the eastern Himalayas reach their peak floral diversity.
The plant produces erect to ascending stems 10–25 cm tall from a fascicle of fleshy, fusiform roots. The leaves are mostly basal and sub-opposite on the stem, oblong-lanceolate in outline, 3–7 cm long, deeply pinnatisect with numerous linear to oblong segments that are themselves dentate, the teeth bearing fine, hair-like extensions — the character from which the specific epithet trichodonta ("hair-toothed") is derived. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal, capitate to shortly spicate raceme. The calyx is tubular, membranous, with five unequal, denticulate lobes. The corolla is bilabiate, typically pink to purplish-red, 15–20 mm long; the upper lip (galea) is falcate-incurved, beakless or very shortly beaked, while the lower lip is three-lobed and spreading. The capsule is obliquely ovoid, compressed, slightly exserted from the calyx.
Pedicularis trichodonta was described by Tetsuo Yamazaki and belongs to one of the most species-rich genera of flowering plants, with over 600 species worldwide, the majority concentrated in the Sino-Himalayan region. With only about 33 occurrence records in GBIF, the species is among the less frequently collected members of the genus in the eastern Himalayas. Its hemiparasitic ecology makes it dependent on intact alpine plant communities, and disruption of host populations through overgrazing or climate-driven vegetation change could indirectly threaten its persistence. Further collections are needed to clarify its full range and population status.

Author: T.Yamaz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of China Vol. 18, Yamazaki: Pedicularis of Nepal (1988)