Tag:

Myanmar

Flowers of the Myanmar Himalaya — 604 species recorded from northern Myanmar (Burma) and the eastern Himalayan borderlands, a biodiversity hotspot linking the Himalaya to the mountains of Yunnan and Southeast Asia. The region’s forests and alpine slopes hold a rich flora of rhododendrons, orchids, balsams and gentians. Every page gives a botanical description, distribution, habitat and flowering time with the original photograph.

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne articulata

by GP Jürgens

(Lindl.) Rchb.f.

Bh09 220 P373
Bhutan Dochu-La, 2900m June
Bh09 356 P573
Bhutan Dochu-La, 2900m June

Description

Coelogyne articulata (long widely known as Pholidota articulata) is an epiphytic orchid distributed broadly across tropical and subtropical Asia, from India, Nepal, Bhutan and China through Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina and Malesia to New Guinea, with 733 occurrences in GBIF. It grows as an epiphyte on tree trunks and mossy branches, occasionally as a lithophyte on shaded rocks, in evergreen and mixed broadleaved forest from the lowlands up to about 2900 m. The Bhutanese collection figured, from Dochu-La at 2900 m in June, marks the upper, cool-temperate edge of its range, where it flowers in the early monsoon in humid, shaded forest.

The plant has a creeping rhizome bearing a chain of cylindrical to fusiform pseudobulbs jointed end to end, each successive bulb arising from the apex of the last, producing the articulated, beaded habit reflected in the epithet. Each pseudobulb carries one or two oblong-lanceolate, plicate leaves. The slender, pendulous inflorescence is a distichous, secund raceme of many small flowers subtended by conspicuous boat-shaped bracts; the flowers are whitish to pale pink, with concave sepals, narrow petals and a saccate, concave lip. The fruit is a small ribbed dehiscent capsule releasing dust-like seeds.

The genus name on the source page reflects past placement in Pholidota; molecular phylogenetics has shown Pholidota to be nested within Coelogyne (Orchidaceae, subfamily Epidendroideae), and POWO accepts the combination Coelogyne articulata. The input family is given as "Orchideaceae"; the accepted family is Orchidaceae. Widespread, locally common and tolerant of secondary forest, the species is not regarded as threatened, though all wild orchids are listed on CITES Appendix II.

Author: (Lindl.) Rchb.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Coelogyne (A Synopsis)

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne barbata

by GP Jürgens

Lindl. ex Griff.

Bhutan2015 216
Bhutan Zhemgang 910m, October

Description

Coelogyne barbata is an Eastern Himalayan orchid recorded from China, north-eastern India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal, with GBIF documenting over a hundred occurrences across the region. It grows as an epiphyte on mossy tree trunks and large branches, and sometimes as a lithophyte on shaded, humus-covered rocks, in humid broad-leaved evergreen montane forest with abundant atmospheric moisture. The species occupies low to middle elevations of the warm-temperate belt; the photographed plant from Zhemgang in central Bhutan at about 910 m, flowering in October, exemplifies its autumn anthesis at the lower end of its altitudinal range, when many congeners are also in bloom.

The plant forms ovoid to oblong-conical pseudobulbs spaced along a stout creeping rhizome, each bearing a pair of apical leaves. The leaves are large, elliptic-lanceolate, plicate and prominently veined, narrowed to a petiole. The inflorescence is an erect to arching, several- to many-flowered raceme arising from the apex of a developing growth, the flowers opening more or less simultaneously. The flowers are showy and white, with spreading sepals and petals; the labellum is the most distinctive feature, trilobed and white marked with dark brown to blackish blotches, its disc and margins of the side lobes conspicuously fringed with long brown or blackish bristly hairs, from which the epithet derives. The fruit is a ribbed capsule.

C. barbata is placed within Coelogyne section Fuliginosae (the elata/ovalis alliance of fimbriate-lipped species), distinguished from its relatives by the heavily bearded, dark-marked labellum. Recent generic recircumscriptions of Coelogyne based on molecular phylogenetics retain the species in the genus. Attractive and readily recognised, it is collected from the wild for horticulture, which together with the clearance of mid-elevation forest constitutes the principal threat to its populations.

Author: Lindl. ex Griff. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, The Orchids of Bhutan (Pearce & Cribb), Coelogyne and its Allies (Clayton & Cribb)

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne corymbosa

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bhutan2014 17
Bhutan Sandrup 800m, May
Bhutan2014 19
Bhutan Sandrup 800m, May

Description

Coelogyne corymbosa is an epiphytic orchid widely distributed through the eastern Himalaya and adjoining Southeast Asia, native to China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, with 424 GBIF records making it one of the better-documented Coelogyne of the region. It is a cool-growing epiphyte and lithophyte of mossy montane and cloud forest, usually between about 1800 and 3000 m, though the caption locality of Sandrup in southern Bhutan at 800 m in May reflects collection in the warmer foothill belt at the lower margin of its range; the bulk of its populations occupy higher, mist-bathed forest.

The plant forms ovoid to oblong pseudobulbs, spaced along a creeping rhizome, each topped by a pair of narrowly elliptic, plicate leaves. The inflorescence is a short, few-flowered raceme produced from the apex of the young growth. The flowers are relatively large for the plant and brilliant white, with spreading lanceolate sepals and petals; the trilobed lip is the diagnostic feature, conspicuously marked in the throat with bright orange-yellow blotches ringed in dark reddish-brown, set off by raised, fringed keels. The fruit is a ribbed capsule.

Coelogyne is a large Asian genus of tribe Arethuseae, and C. corymbosa belongs to a group of small, high-elevation, white-flowered species distinguished by their boldly ocellate lips. Cool-growing and floriferous, it is valued in cultivation, but its principal habitat in undisturbed mossy forest makes wild populations sensitive to logging and to the warming of montane climates. International trade is regulated under CITES Appendix II.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Coelogyne (Clayton & Cribb)

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne flaccida

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 97 444 G862
Nepal Tashigaon 2900m May
Nepal 97 446 P864
Nepal Tashigaon 2900m May

Description

Coelogyne flaccida Lindl. is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalaya and Southeast Asia, recorded from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, with cultivated records widely scattered elsewhere; GBIF documents around 243 occurrences. It grows as an epiphyte, occasionally a lithophyte, on mossy tree trunks and shaded rocks in broadleaved evergreen and mixed forest, generally between about 900 and 2300 m, though montane records reach higher. The photographed plant was found at Tashigaon in Nepal at about 2900 m in May, at the upper, cooler edge of its range where this pseudobulbous orchid flowers in spring on humid, well-shaded substrates.

The plant is sympodial, with clustered, oblong to ovoid pseudobulbs borne on a creeping rhizome, each pseudobulb bearing one or two apical, plicate, lanceolate to elliptic leaves. The inflorescence is a pendent, laxly several-flowered raceme arising from the base of the pseudobulb. The flowers are fragrant, the sepals and petals creamy-white to pale buff and somewhat flaccid (the epithet flaccida), and the trilobed labellum is marked with conspicuous yellow to orange-brown keels and reddish-brown veining on the side lobes. The fruit is a ribbed dehiscent capsule releasing dust-like seeds.

Within the large Asiatic genus Coelogyne, this species belongs to the white-flowered, pendent-racemed group allied to C. cristata and C. corymbosa and is widely grown by orchid enthusiasts. Like other epiphytic orchids it depends on undisturbed humid forest and mycorrhizal partners for germination. Although fairly widespread, wild populations are vulnerable to habitat loss and collection, and all Coelogyne are listed on CITES Appendix II, regulating international trade.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Clayton The Genus Coelogyne: A Synopsis

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne ovalis

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bhutan2012 468
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m, September

Description

Coelogyne ovalis Lindl. is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalaya and northern Southeast Asia, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, with cultivated records from Europe and North America, totalling some 235 occurrences. It grows as an epiphyte, and occasionally a lithophyte, on mossy trunks and rocks in humid evergreen and mixed montane forest, typically between about 1000 and 2500 m. The plant photographed near Wangdi in Bhutan at about 2500 m in September, at the close of the monsoon, represents the upper part of this range, where cool, perennially moist conditions favour the genus.

The species has a creeping rhizome bearing well-spaced, ovoid to oblong-cylindric pseudobulbs, each topped by two thin-textured, plicate, lanceolate to elliptic leaves that taper to a stalked base. The inflorescence arises from the apex of a developing or mature pseudobulb and carries one or a few comparatively large flowers in succession. The sepals and petals are narrow and pale yellowish to buff or olive-tinged; the broad three-lobed labellum is the showiest part, marked with rich brown to maroon blotches and bearing fringed keels along the disc, with erect lateral lobes flanking the column.

Coelogyne is a large Asian genus of subtribe Coelogyninae, and C. ovalis is placed in section Fuliginosae, characterised by successively produced, brown-marked flowers. It is reasonably widespread and is grown in cultivation, so it is not regarded as globally threatened, although wild populations are pressured by habitat loss and over-collection; like all orchids it is listed on CITES Appendix II. Its broad Indo-Himalayan to Sundaic range makes it a good example of the orchid connection between the Himalaya and Southeast Asia.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Pradhan Indian Orchids, Clayton monograph The Genus Coelogyne

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne punctulata

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 2001 237 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Niuli Kharka 2500m, May
Sikkim2004 334 G595 ergebnis
Sikkim Choka 3330m, April
Nepal 1994 288 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 2850m, May 

Description

Coelogyne punctulata Lindl. is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalaya and neighbouring mountains, recorded from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh (225 GBIF occurrences). It grows on mossy trunks and branches, and occasionally as a lithophyte on shaded rocks, in temperate broad-leaved and mixed forest, generally between 2000 and 3300 m. It was documented in Nepal at Niuli Kharka in Gorkha around 2500 m and at Milka-Danda in the east near 2850 m, both in May, and in Sikkim at Choka at 3330 m in April, reflecting the cool, humid mid-montane forests it favours.

It is a sympodial epiphyte with closely set, ovoid to oblong pseudobulbs borne on a creeping rhizome, each bearing one or two plicate, elliptic-lanceolate leaves narrowed to a petiole-like base. The inflorescence is a few-flowered raceme arising with the new growth. The flowers are white to pale cream, the elliptic sepals and narrower petals spreading, and the showy trilobed labellum marked with yellow or orange keels and reddish-brown to ochre spotting on the disc, the lateral lobes erect about the column. The fruit is a ribbed, dehiscent capsule releasing dust-fine seeds.

Coelogyne is a large Asian genus and C. punctulata sits within the section of small-flowered white-and-spotted species; it has at times been confused with the related C. nitida, a synonymy reflected in the original page reference. The deceptive, nectarless flowers are pollinated by bees, and the minute wind-dispersed seeds depend on mycorrhizal fungi for germination. As a forest epiphyte it is vulnerable to habitat loss and orchid collection, concerns shared across wild-harvested Coelogyne, and the genus is listed under CITES Appendix II.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya (King & Pantling), Coelogyne monograph (Clayton, The Genus Coelogyne)

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne uniflora 

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 2001 464 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Gunda 1700m, May

Description

Coelogyne uniflora (long known as Panisea uniflora) is an epiphytic orchid distributed across the eastern Himalaya and Indochina, ranging from Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan through northeast India to southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia; GBIF records 90 occurrences across this range. It grows as an epiphyte on mossy trunks and branches, and occasionally as a lithophyte on shaded rocks, in humid subtropical to lower temperate broad-leaved and evergreen forest, generally between about 1000 and 2200 m. The photographed plant from Gunda in the Gorkha district of Nepal at 1700 m in May illustrates its flowering at the onset of the monsoon, when atmospheric humidity in these mid-montane forests is high.

It is a small, tufted, sympodial epiphyte with closely spaced, ovoid to cylindrical pseudobulbs borne on a creeping rhizome, each pseudobulb bearing one or two narrowly lanceolate, plicate leaves. The inflorescence is short and few-flowered, usually carrying a single relatively large flower (whence uniflora) at or near the base of the new growth. The flower has spreading, pale creamy-white to yellowish sepals and petals; the lip (labellum) is three-lobed, often marked with reddish-brown to orange and bearing low keels on the disc, the lateral lobes erect. The column is slender and the fruit a ribbed dehiscent capsule releasing dust-like seeds.

The species exemplifies recent generic realignments within the Coelogyninae (Orchidaceae): the genus Panisea has been subsumed into a broadly circumscribed Coelogyne on molecular phylogenetic grounds, so the wp_link "panisea-uniflora" reflects the former placement while Coelogyne uniflora is the currently accepted name. Like other coelogynes it produces minute wind-dispersed seeds dependent on mycorrhizal fungi for germination. Though wide-ranging, epiphytic orchids are sensitive to deforestation and collection and are afforded CITES Appendix II protection.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 25, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal, The Genus Coelogyne: A Synopsis (Clayton & Pradhan)

Lamiaceae

Colquhounia coccinea

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bhutan2012 13
Bhutan Paro, 2300m September
Nepal 95 95 P164 ergebnis
Nepal Barphak 2000m October
Garw 2005 209 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Pana 2800m, September

Description

Colquhounia coccinea is a showy shrubby mint of the Himalaya and southwestern China. GBIF records it from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Thailand and Myanmar, with cultivated and introduced occurrences in Australia, Europe and North America, totalling around 670 records. It grows in open forest, scrub, thickets and along hill slopes and roadsides in the warm temperate zone, generally between 1500 and 3000 m. The populations illustrated were photographed at Paro in Bhutan (2300 m), Barphak in Nepal (2000 m) and Pana in Garhwal, India (2800 m), flowering in September and October, its characteristic autumn flowering season in the Himalayan foothills.

It is a robust, sprawling or semi-scandent shrub up to 2-3 m, the stems and foliage clothed in stellate or felted indumentum. The opposite leaves are ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, crenate-serrate and rugose, greyish-tomentose beneath. The flowers are borne in dense axillary cymose clusters; the curved, tubular, two-lipped corolla is brilliant scarlet to orange-red, well exserted from the calyx, with four didynamous stamens. The fruit is unusual among Lamiaceae in that the nutlets are winged, an adaptation favouring wind dispersal from the often steep slopes the plant occupies.

Colquhounia is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of subfamily Lamioideae, and the winged nutlets and tubular red corollas distinguish it within the family. The vivid scarlet, nectar-rich tubular flowers are adapted to bird pollination, notably by sunbirds, an uncommon strategy in the predominantly bee-pollinated mints. Long valued as an ornamental and frost-tender garden shrub, the species is widespread and locally common, and is not of conservation concern.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Phylogeny and classification of subfamily Lamioideae (Lamiaceae)

Combretaceae

Combretum indicum

by GP Jürgens

(L.) DeFilipps

Nepal 97 543 P1063
Nepal Sabha-Khola 1000m May

Description

Combretum indicum (L.) DeFilipps, the Rangoon creeper, is a vigorous woody climber of the Combretaceae native to tropical Asia and now pantropically cultivated and naturalised. Its native and introduced records span India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina, southern China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, with widespread escapes in tropical Africa, the Americas, Australia and the Pacific. It is a plant of warm lowland and foothill environments: forest margins, riverbanks, thickets and hedgerows, often in secondary and disturbed vegetation. The plant photographed along the Sabha-Khola in Nepal at 1,000 m in May reflects its occurrence in the warm sub-Himalayan zone, where it flowers in the pre-monsoon season.

The plant is a large scandent shrub or liana, climbing by means of persistent woody petiole bases that function as hooks. The leaves are opposite, elliptic to oblong, entire and shortly petiolate, with the petiole base hardening and remaining as a spinescent peg. The flowers are borne in terminal and axillary spike-like racemes and are famously colour-changing: each long-tubed, five-petalled flower opens white and turns through pink to deep red over successive days, fragrant especially at night, indicating moth pollination. The fruit is an ellipsoid, five-winged or five-angled, leathery pseudo-drupe.

Formerly placed in the genus Quisqualis, the species is universally grown as an ornamental for its showy, sweetly scented, colour-shifting inflorescences, and its seeds and leaves have a long history of use in traditional medicine, notably as an anthelmintic. This horticultural ubiquity accounts for its extensive naturalisation, and in some warm regions it behaves as an invasive, smothering native vegetation, so that its spread beyond cultivation warrants management attention.

Author: (L.) DeFilipps · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Nepal, Exell: Combretaceae (Flora Malesiana)

Commelinaceae

Commelina maculata

by GP Jürgens

Edgew.

Bhutan2014 817
Bhutan Punaka 1310m, May
Bhutan2014 818
Bhutan Punaka 1310m, May

Description

Commelina maculata is a perennial herb of the Himalaya and adjacent Asian mountains, recorded by GBIF from China, Nepal, India, Thailand, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Sri Lanka across about 310 occurrences. It grows in moist, often shaded places, along forest margins, on grassy and rocky banks, beside paths and watercourses, and in disturbed ground, generally at low to middle elevations. The plant photographed at Punakha in western Bhutan at about 1310 m, flowering in May, occupies the warm temperate valley habitat where this species is common in the early monsoon season.

The plant has ascending to decumbent, somewhat fleshy stems that root at the lower nodes, with sheathing leaf bases typical of the family. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, with entire margins and a closed basal sheath, often with a fringe of hairs at the sheath mouth. The flowers emerge from a folded, boat-shaped spathe and are zygomorphic, with three sepals and three petals of which the two upper petals are larger and conspicuously blue, the lower one reduced and paler; there are six stamens, several modified as staminodes with cruciform antherodes. Each flower is ephemeral, opening for part of a single day. The fruit is a small loculicidal capsule containing few rugose seeds.

Commelina is a large pantropical genus whose Asian montane species, including C. maculata, are distinguished by spathe form, seed sculpturing and indumentum. The fleeting, nectarless flowers rely on pollen-foraging insects, and the staminodes function as a visual lure. As a plant of disturbed and marginal habitats the species is weedy, resilient and widely distributed, and it is of no conservation concern. Its broad Indo-Malayan to Himalayan range reflects the success of the genus in seasonally moist, sunny situations.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Faden Commelinaceae studies, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal