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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.

Ericaceae

Rhododendron glaucophyllum

by GP Jürgens

Rehder

Sikkim2004 392 P672
Sikkim (India), Lachung 3100 m
Sikkim2004 386 P664
Sikkim (India), Lachung 3100 m, May

Description

Rhododendron glaucophyllum is an Eastern Himalayan shrub distributed across Sikkim and adjacent India, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of south-western China and Myanmar. Its 172 GBIF records concentrate in this native range, the British, Canadian, New Zealand and United States points reflecting its long cultivation as an ornamental rhododendron. It grows in subalpine and alpine shrubberies, on open rocky slopes, cliffs, forest margins and moist banks, typically between about 2700 and 3700 m. The plant photographed at Lachung in Sikkim at 3100 m in May illustrates the species flowering in late spring within the cool, humid montane belt of the Eastern Himalaya.

It is a small, aromatic, evergreen shrub with peeling, papery bark and elliptic to oblong leaves that are dark green above and conspicuously glaucous and densely scaly (lepidote) beneath, the source of the epithet glaucophyllum. The flowers are borne in small terminal trusses; the campanulate corolla is pink to rose, sometimes paler or white, with the calyx well-developed and lobed, a distinctive feature of the species. Ten stamens and a lepidote ovary are typical of its subgenus. The fruit is a small, scaly, dehiscent capsule releasing numerous tiny seeds.

The species belongs to Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron, section Rhododendron (the lepidote, scaly-leaved rhododendrons), and within it to the glaucophyllum group, characterised by aromatic foliage and a prominent calyx. Several varieties have been recognised across its range. Widely distributed and locally common, and well established in cultivation, R. glaucophyllum is not considered threatened, forming an attractive element of Eastern Himalayan subalpine scrub.

Author: Rehder · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Rhododendron Handbook (RHS)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron grande

by GP Jürgens

Wight

Nepal1992 196 P285 ergebnis
Nepal Suketar 2400m March 
Nepal1992 197 P286 ergebnis
Nepal Suketar 2400m March 

Description

Rhododendron grande is a tree species of the eastern Himalayan temperate forest belt, ranging through Nepal, Sikkim and Darjeeling in India, Bhutan, northern Myanmar and southwestern China (Yunnan, Tibet), with cultivated and naturalised records extending to Great Britain, Belgium, Canada and the United States; the GBIF dataset comprises some 284 georeferenced occurrences. It typically grows between 2000 and 3000 m in cool, humid broad-leaved and conifer forests, ravine margins and on shaded slopes, often forming an understorey component beneath Tsuga and Quercus. The photographed plant from Suketar in eastern Nepal at 2400 m, flowering in March, is characteristic of these mid-montane mist forests where high rainfall and persistent cloud cover prevail.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree reaching 10–15 m, with stout branchlets and smooth grey-brown bark. The leaves are large, coriaceous, oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, 15–30 cm long, dark glossy green above and conspicuously silvery to fawn lanate-tomentose beneath with a thin plastered indumentum. The inflorescence is a dense compact truss of 15–25 flowers; the corolla is campanulate, 4–5 cm long, ivory-white to creamy with a basal crimson-purple blotch, eight-lobed, and subtended by a swollen nectary. Stamens are 16, the ovary tomentose, and the fruit a woody curved capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute winged seeds.

Rhododendron grande belongs to subgenus Hymenanthes, subsection Grandia, a group of large-leaved species centred on the Sino-Himalaya and noted for their bicoloured indumentum. As one of the earliest-flowering large rhododendrons it is valued in horticulture and draws nectar-feeding birds and bumblebees. Though not globally threatened, populations face pressure from forest clearance and grazing.

Author: Wight · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 14, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, The Genus Rhododendron (Cox & Cox)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron kendrickii

by GP Jürgens

Nutt.

Bhutan2014 334
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, May
Bhutan2014 359
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, May

Description

Rhododendron kendrickii is an eastern Himalayan species centred on Bhutan, north-east India (Arunachal Pradesh) and adjacent south-west China and northern Myanmar, with Nepal at the western limit; the 71 georeferenced records also include cultivated material in New Zealand. It is a component of cool, humid temperate forest, growing in mixed evergreen woodland, on forest margins and steep mossy slopes. The Bhutan collection at Tumching-La at about 2900 m sits squarely within its typical altitudinal range of roughly 2400-3300 m in the upper temperate broadleaved zone, where it flowers in spring.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree, often 3-6 m tall, with smooth bark and stout branchlets. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, leathery, acuminate, dark glossy green above and pale beneath, with a prominent midrib and narrowly recurved margins. The flowers are borne in compact, many-flowered trusses; the corolla is tubular-campanulate, fleshy, and rich crimson to scarlet with darker nectar pouches at the base. Stamens are typically ten, the style glabrous, and the ovary develops into a woody, curved capsule.

The species belongs to subgenus Hymenanthes, the elepidote (non-scaly) rhododendrons, within subsection Irrorata, characterised by tubular red corollas and glabrous ovaries. The brightly coloured, nectar-rich flowers are adapted to bird and insect pollination in the spring monsoon margin. Locally common within its range and not currently regarded as threatened, it nonetheless depends on intact temperate forest and is affected by logging, grazing and fire.

Author: Nutt. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Cox & Cox The Encyclopedia of Rhododendron Species, The Rhododendron Handbook (Royal Horticultural Society)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron leptocarpum

by GP Jürgens

Nutt.

Sikkim2004 436 P760
Sikkim/India Lachung 3600m May
Sikkim2004 437 P761
Sikkim/India Lachung 3600m May

Description

Rhododendron leptocarpum is an Eastern Himalayan endemic restricted to the moist temperate and subalpine belt of Sikkim, Bhutan, adjacent India, southern Tibet (China) and northern Myanmar, where GBIF documents some 119 georeferenced collections across the four countries CN, IN, MM and BT. It is an epiphytic or terrestrial shrub of mossy fir and Rhododendron forest, frequently perching on trunks, boulders and humus-laden ledges in a cool, perhumid, fog-bathed climate. The photographed plant at Lachung in northern Sikkim, growing near 3600 m and flowering in May, is typical of its altitudinal range of roughly 2700-4000 m.

The species is a small, twiggy shrub, often pendulous or scandent when epiphytic, with thin, flaky bark and slender, scaly young shoots. The leaves are evergreen, coriaceous, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, glossy above and densely lepidote beneath, the scales golden to ferruginous. The campanulate to broadly funnelform corolla is comparatively small, pale to deep yellow, sometimes flushed greenish, borne in few-flowered terminal umbels; the stamens are 10 and the slender style is sharply deflexed. The diagnostic fruit is an elongate, narrowly cylindrical, curved capsule, the slenderness of which gives the epithet leptocarpum ('slender-fruited').

Placed in Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron, the lepidote (scaly-leaved) rhododendrons, R. leptocarpum belongs to a group of small-flowered yellow species centred on the wettest Eastern Himalayan ranges. Its epiphytic habit and narrow elevational and geographic span make it a sensitive indicator of intact, high-humidity cloud forest, a habitat increasingly fragmented by grazing, fuelwood collection and warming-driven upslope shifts of the forest belt.

Author: Nutt. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Rhododendron Handbook (Royal Horticultural Society), Cox & Cox A Encyclopedia of Rhododendron Species

Ericaceae

Rhododendron lindleyi

by GP Jürgens

T. Moore

Bhutan2014 311
Bhutan Jakar 2400m, May
Bhutan2014 448
Bhutan Jakar 2400m, May
Sikkim2004 56 G98
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2810m April
Nepal 1994 257 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 2850m April 
Nepal 1994 263 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 2850m May 

Description

Rhododendron lindleyi is an epiphytic to terrestrial rhododendron of the eastern Himalaya, recorded in GBIF from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar across 154 occurrences. It is characteristic of cool, humid mid-montane broad-leaved and conifer forest, growing as an epiphyte on mossy trunks or on cliffs and steep banks between roughly 2200 and 3000 m. Collections cited from the image span Jakar in Bhutan at 2400 m in May, Bersay in the Sikkim-West Bengal borderlands at 2810 m in April, and Milka-Danda in east Nepal at 2850 m in April-May, indicating a spring-flowering species of the perhumid forest belt.

It is a straggling, sparsely branched shrub 1-3 m tall with smooth, peeling reddish-brown bark and rather thin, scaly branchlets. The leaves are elliptic-oblong, leathery, glaucous and densely lepidote (scaly) beneath. The inflorescence is a loose terminal truss of 3-6 large, fragrant flowers; the corolla is broadly funnel-campanulate, 7-10 cm long, white often flushed with pink and marked with a yellow basal blotch, the tube exterior bearing scattered scales. There are usually ten stamens, an elongate scaly style, and the fruit is a slender, scaly, septicidal capsule releasing numerous minute winged seeds adapted to epiphytic establishment.

The species belongs to Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron section Maddenia, the lepidote, often epiphytic, large-flowered rhododendrons. Named for the botanist John Lindley, it is prized in horticulture for its scented bloom. Pollination is by long-tongued insects, with dust-seed dispersal favouring colonisation of bark and rock. Though locally frequent, its dependence on undisturbed humid forest leaves it sensitive to habitat clearance.

Author: T. Moore · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Edinburgh Revision)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron maddenii

by G & P Jürgens

Hook. f.

Sikkim2011 171
Sikkim Lachen 2760m, June
61F33B91D6814425A5DC452DD80DA368
Bhutan Paro, 2400m June

Description

Rhododendron maddenii is a temperate Himalayan and Indo-Burmese species native from India and Bhutan through China to Myanmar and Vietnam; GBIF's 432 records also reflect its wide cultivation, with occurrences logged from New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the United States. In the wild it grows on steep, often rocky and humus-rich slopes, cliff ledges and the margins of temperate broadleaf and conifer forest, frequently as an epiphyte or lithophyte. The figured plants from Lachen in Sikkim at 2760 m and Paro in western Bhutan at 2400 m, both flowering in June, place it firmly within the cool temperate forest belt where summer monsoon moisture and high atmospheric humidity prevail.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree, the bark smooth and peeling in papery flakes. The leaves are leathery, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, dark green and glabrous above, the undersurface densely covered with brown lepidote scales characteristic of the subgenus. The flowers, borne in terminal trusses of few blooms, are large, funnel-form to tubular-campanular and strongly fragrant, white often flushed with pink and scaly on the outside of the corolla tube. There are typically numerous stamens and a long style, the ovary lepidote. The fruit is an elongate, scaly, dehiscent capsule releasing many small seeds adapted to wind and epiphytic establishment.

Within Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron, R. maddenii belongs to the large, taxonomically complex subsection Maddenia, distinguished by lepidote foliage and showy scented corollas, and it shows considerable variation in size and indumentum across its range. The fragrant, pale flowers attract long-tongued moths and other nocturnal pollinators. Long prized in horticulture, it is the source of many hybrids; in the wild it remains generally secure, though habitat loss and over-collection threaten some local populations.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Royal Horticultural Society), Cullen's revision of lepidote Rhododendron

Ericaceae

Rhododendron nivale

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

BhutanPG2011 525
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4650m June

Description

Rhododendron nivale is a dwarf, high-alpine rhododendron of the eastern Himalaya and Tibetan ranges, occurring in southern China (notably Xizang), Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and northern Myanmar, with around 1285 GBIF records. As its epithet ("of the snows") implies, it is one of the highest-ascending woody plants in the world, forming low, wind-pruned cushions and mats on open alpine slopes, moraine, rocky turf and near the snowline. The Bhutanese population imaged on the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Dem-Tso at 4650 m in June exemplifies its extreme elevational habitat and its early-summer flowering as the snow recedes.

It is a much-branched, prostrate to low-growing evergreen shrublet with twigs densely set with overlapping scales (lepidote). The leaves are very small, elliptic to obovate, leathery, and conspicuously scaly on both surfaces, the lower side often rusty with dense scales. The flowers are borne singly or few together at the branch tips; the corolla is small, broadly funnelform to rotate, and pink, rose-purple to bluish-purple, with the tube hairy within and exserted stamens. The fruit is a small, scaly, dehiscent capsule releasing minute seeds adapted to wind dispersal in the open high mountains.

Rhododendron nivale belongs to subsect. Lapponica (sect. Rhododendron), the lepidote alpine "dwarf" rhododendrons that dominate vast areas of Sino-Himalayan alpine scrub, and several subspecies have been recognised across its range. Its cushion habit, dense leaf scaling and reduced stature are classic adaptations to cold, desiccating, high-irradiation subnival conditions. The species is abundant within its zone and not of conservation concern, but as a snowline specialist it is a sensitive indicator of alpine climatic change.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Plant Hunters' Rhododendrons of the Himalaya, Cullen's revision of Rhododendron subsect. Lapponica (monograph)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron pumilum

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

BhutanPG2011 549 1
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4700m July

Description

Rhododendron pumilum is a diminutive alpine shrublet of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Sino-Himalayan region, recorded from China (Tibet, Yunnan), Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with 115 georeferenced occurrences. It inhabits the high alpine zone, growing in damp turf, on mossy rocks, peaty banks and the margins of snow-fed meltwater seeps, typically between about 3500 and 4800 m. The species was photographed on the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail near Dem-Tso, Bhutan, at 4700 m in July, an elevation reflecting its strong association with the uppermost alpine meadows and moist micro-sites close to the limit of vascular plant growth.

It is one of the smallest rhododendrons, a creeping, mat-forming evergreen rarely more than 8 to 15 cm tall, with slender prostrate stems rooting at the nodes and minutely scaly young growth. The tiny leaves are obovate to elliptic, leathery, lepidote beneath with pale scales and often slightly revolute at the margin. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs at the shoot tips on relatively long pedicels and are nodding, broadly campanulate and pink to rose-purple, comparatively large in proportion to the plant; the stamens are typically ten and the style short and stout. The fruit is a small scaly capsule.

The species is placed in Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron, section Rhododendron (subsection Uniflora), a group of cushion-forming dwarf lepidote species of the high Sino-Himalaya. Its solitary nodding flowers and creeping habit distinguish it from related dwarfs. Ecologically it is a specialist of cold, moist, well-aerated alpine substrates and an associate of cushion-plant communities. Though not assessed as globally threatened, its restriction to narrow high-elevation habitats makes it vulnerable to climate-driven habitat contraction.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Cullen & Chamberlain monograph)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron trichocladum

by GP Jürgens

Franch.

Sikkim2011 211
Sikkim Yumthang 3500m, June
Sikkim2011 213
Sikkim Yumthang 3500m, June
Sikkim2011 218
Sikkim Yumthang 3500m, June

Description

Rhododendron trichocladum is a deciduous, scaly-leaved shrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Sino-Himalayan ranges, distributed across south-western China (notably Yunnan and south-eastern Tibet), northern Myanmar and the Indian Himalaya, with GBIF records (553 occurrences) confirming a centre of abundance in Sikkim, Yunnan and Upper Myanmar. It occupies open hillsides, forest margins, rhododendron thickets and rocky slopes at roughly 2700-4000 m, frequently in cool, humid, moss-rich montane settings. The photographed plant from the Yumthang valley in north Sikkim at about 3500 m in June typifies its preferred sub-alpine zone, where it flowers as the snow recedes alongside dwarf rhododendrons and primulas.

A much-branched shrub usually 0.5-1.5 m tall, with thin, often bristly young shoots bearing scattered scales and setae. The thin, deciduous leaves are obovate to elliptic, bright green, sparsely scaly above and densely lepidote beneath, with ciliate margins and a short petiole. Flowers are borne in small terminal clusters of one to three, opening with or before the leaves; the widely funnel-campanulate corolla is yellow, often greenish-yellow and sometimes faintly spotted, with five lobes and a scaly outer surface. Stamens ten, declinate; the ovary is densely scaly, tapering into a slender style. The fruit is a small, ovoid, scaly capsule dehiscing septicidally to release minute winged seeds.

The species belongs to Rhododendron subsection Trichoclada (subgenus Rhododendron), a small group of deciduous, yellow-flowered, scaly-leaved shrubs characterised by their bristly indumentum. It is a valuable subject for cool temperate woodland gardens and has contributed to horticultural breeding. Though not globally threatened given its broad Sino-Himalayan range, populations are locally dependent on undisturbed sub-alpine scrub, making them sensitive to grazing pressure, fuelwood collection and habitat shifts driven by warming climates.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Rhododendron (Royal Horticultural Society monograph)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron triflorum

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

Bhutan2014 357
Bhutan Tumching-La 3100m, May
Bhutan2014 402
Bhutan Yatong-La 2900m, May
Bhutan2014 403
Bhutan Yatong-La 2900m, May

Description

Rhododendron triflorum is an eastern Himalayan rhododendron distributed across China, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Myanmar, with about 484 GBIF occurrences (additional records abroad reflecting its popularity in cultivation). It grows in temperate forest, forest margins, rhododendron and conifer thickets and open shrubby slopes, generally between roughly 2700 and 3700 m. The plants photographed at Tumching-La (about 3100 m) and Yatong-La (about 2900 m) in Bhutan, both in May, exemplify its mid-montane forest habitat, where it flowers in late spring among mixed broad-leaved and coniferous woodland.

The species is an erect shrub or small tree with smooth, attractive coppery to reddish-brown, peeling bark. The leaves are evergreen, ovate to elliptic, glabrous above and conspicuously scaly (lepidote) beneath, the scales characteristic of the lepidote rhododendrons. The flowers are borne in small terminal clusters, typically in threes as the epithet triflorum indicates; the broadly funnel-campanulate corolla is pale yellow, often flushed or spotted with green, and densely scaly outside. There are ten stamens and a scaly ovary, and the fruit is a small dry capsule splitting to release numerous minute seeds.

Rhododendron triflorum belongs to subgenus Rhododendron (the lepidote, scaly-leaved rhododendrons), section Triflora, a group of slender-flowered species centred on the Sino-Himalaya. The lepidote indumentum and small capsular fruits with abundant wind-dispersed seed are characteristic of this clade. With a wide eastern Himalayan distribution the species is of least concern, and its handsome bark and yellow flowers have made it a valued ornamental; like its congeners it is an important component of the rhododendron-dominated temperate forests of the eastern Himalaya.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Cullen revision of lepidote Rhododendron