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.

Ericaceae

Vaccinium nummularia

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f. & Thomson ex C.B. Clarke

Bh2008 392 G607
Bhutan Gogona 3250m, May
Vaccinium nummularia
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2700m April

Description

Vaccinium nummularia is an eastern Himalayan blueberry relative distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, south-central China and Myanmar, with around two hundred and ten GBIF records (a few cultivated or herbarium entries from Britain and the United States reflecting its horticultural interest). It is a characteristic epiphyte or terrestrial shrub of moist temperate forest, growing on mossy tree trunks, banks and cliff faces in the cloud-forest belt. The illustrated plants from Gogona in Bhutan at 3250 m in May and from Bersay in the Sikkim/West Bengal hills at 2700 m in April typify its mid- to upper-temperate, high-humidity habitat.

The species is a low, much-branched evergreen shrub whose young stems and leaf undersides are conspicuously clad in stiff, brown, bristly hairs (setae). The leaves are small, ovate to orbicular, coriaceous and nearly sessile, distichously arranged, with finely serrulate, setose margins, the rounded outline giving rise to the epithet nummularia ('coin-like'). The flowers are borne in short axillary racemes; the corolla is urceolate (urn-shaped), red to pink and waxy, with a small five-lobed limb, and the calyx, ovary and pedicels are likewise setose. The fruit is a globose, purplish-black, edible berry.

Vaccinium nummularia is an accepted species within Vaccinium (Ericaceae, subfamily Vaccinioideae), allied to the setose-leaved Himalayan epiphytic blueberries. Its epiphytic habit, leathery setose leaves and bird-dispersed berries are adaptations to the humid, mossy cloud-forest canopy, and it is cultivated by specialist growers for its handsome bristly foliage and red urn-shaped flowers. The species is locally common and not assessed as threatened, but it depends on intact, humid temperate forest.

Author: Hook. f. & Thomson ex C.B. Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Sleumer revision of Asian Vaccinium (Ericaceae monograph)

Ericaceae

Vaccinium vacciniaceum

by GP Jürgens

(Roxb.) Sleumer

Nepal 97 77 P127
Nepal above Meta-Khola 1850m April
Nepal 97 90 P151
Nepal above Meta-Khola 1850m April

Description

Vaccinium vacciniaceum is a shrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjoining ranges, recorded by GBIF from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh across about 187 occurrences. It is characteristically epiphytic or lithophytic, growing on the trunks and branches of forest trees and on mossy rocks in humid temperate and subtropical broad-leaved and evergreen forest, typically between roughly 1500 and 2700 m. The plant photographed above the Meta-Khola in Nepal at about 1850 m, in April, reflects this moist mid-montane forest habitat where high humidity and abundant epiphytic moss support its growth.

The plant is a small, much-branched evergreen shrub, often pendent or scrambling when epiphytic, with a somewhat woody, swollen base. The leaves are alternate, leathery, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, with an acuminate apex, an entire or finely serrulate margin, and prominent venation. The flowers are borne in short axillary racemes and are urceolate (urn-shaped), the corolla white to pale pink with five short recurved lobes, subtended by small bracts; the stamens have awned anthers opening by terminal pores, as is typical of the genus. The fruit is a small globose berry, ripening dark and fleshy, attractive to birds that disperse the numerous tiny seeds.

The species, transferred to Vaccinium by Sleumer in his comprehensive treatment of Asian Ericaceae, belongs to the largely epiphytic Sino-Himalayan element of the genus. Its epiphytic habit and dependence on humid, moss-rich forest tie it closely to intact, well-shaded montane woodland, and the fleshy berries indicate ornithochorous dispersal. Although not formally assessed as threatened, epiphytic Vaccinium are sensitive to forest clearance and to declines in the canopy humidity on which their establishment depends.

Author: (Roxb.) Sleumer · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Sleumer revision of Asian Vaccinium (Ericaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Plantaginaceae

Veronica cana

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Sikkim 2006 333 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tolung 2450m, May

Description

Veronica cana is a Himalayan speedwell distributed from Pakistan and northern India (Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh) through Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar to southwestern China (Xizang, Yunnan) and Japan. It occurs in open forest clearings, grassy slopes, rocky banks, and montane scrub at elevations of 1,500–3,500 m. The species has been recorded from the Tolung area in West Bengal at 2,450 m, where it flowers in May during the pre-monsoon season. It favours well-drained, often stony soils in areas receiving moderate to high rainfall.
Veronica cana is an erect to ascending perennial herb, 15–40 cm tall, arising from a slender, creeping rhizome. The stems are simple or sparingly branched, densely covered with short, grey-white, appressed hairs that give the plant a characteristically canescent appearance — hence the epithet "cana" (grey-haired). Leaves are opposite, sessile or subsessile, ovate to lanceolate, 2–5 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, with a crenate to serrate margin and dense, soft pubescence on both surfaces. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme, 5–15 cm long, bearing numerous flowers on short, erect pedicels. The corolla is rotate, four-lobed, 5–8 mm in diameter, pale blue to lilac with darker veins. Stamens are two, exserted. The fruit is an obcordate, compressed capsule 3–5 mm wide, emarginate at the apex, containing numerous minute seeds.
Veronica cana belongs to a complex of pubescent, racemose-flowered Himalayan speedwells that have been variously treated taxonomically. Molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that Veronica in the broad sense (including former Pseudolysimachion and Veronicastrum segregates) is monophyletic within Plantaginaceae. V. cana is distinguished from the related V. laxa by its denser canescent indumentum and more compact racemes. Ecologically, the species is a characteristic element of Himalayan montane grasslands and forest-edge communities, contributing to ground-layer diversity in habitats increasingly threatened by overgrazing and land-use intensification.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Albach et al.: Phylogeny of Veronica (2004)

Adoxaceae

Viburnum cylindricum

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don

Bhutan2012 525
Bhutan Wangdi 2400m, September

Description

Viburnum cylindricum is a widespread evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub to small tree of the Sino-Himalayan and Indochinese region, exceptionally well documented with over 5700 GBIF occurrences spanning China, Nepal, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Vietnam, Laos and beyond, together with numerous cultivated and introduced records in Europe, North America and elsewhere reflecting its horticultural use. It grows in open forests, thickets, forest margins and scrub on hill slopes, typically between 1000 and 3000 m. The plant photographed near Wangdi in Bhutan at about 2400 m in September occupies this mid-montane belt, flowering and fruiting in the post-monsoon period within the warm-temperate broad-leaved forest zone of the eastern Himalaya.

It is an erect, glabrous-twigged shrub or small tree reaching several metres, immediately recognisable by its leathery, glaucous leaves whose surface bears a waxy bloom that can be marked or written upon. The leaves are opposite, simple, elliptic to oblong, entire or obscurely toothed towards the apex, and often somewhat blue-grey beneath. The inflorescence is a large, flat-topped to slightly domed terminal compound cyme of small white to pinkish-white flowers, each with a five-lobed campanulate to tubular corolla and long-exserted stamens that give the open umbel a delicate, brush-like appearance. The fruit is a small ovoid to ellipsoid drupe ripening from red to blue-black, containing a single compressed stone and dispersed by birds.

Viburnum is now placed in Adoxaceae following molecular phylogenetic revision of the old Caprifoliaceae, and V. cylindricum belongs to section Megalotinus, a predominantly tropical to subtropical Asian assemblage. The waxy, exserted-stamened flowers and bird-dispersed drupes are typical of the section. The species is locally used in traditional medicine, and the leaf wax has been put to minor practical uses. Owing to its very broad geographic and altitudinal range and tolerance of disturbed habitat it is of no conservation concern, ranking among the most frequently encountered viburnums of the eastern Himalaya and southwestern China.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Kern Revision of Viburnum sect. Megalotinus

Adoxaceae

Viburnum erubescens

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex. DC.

Sikkim2004 111 G188
India West-Bengal, Utaray 2000m April
Sikkim 2006 353 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tamrong 2700m, May

Description

Viburnum erubescens Wall. ex DC. is a deciduous to semi-evergreen shrub of the Adoxaceae, widespread across the Himalaya and into East and Southeast Asia. GBIF data (over 2,800 occurrences) record it from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Taiwan, and beyond, indicating a broad Sino-Himalayan range. It was photographed in West Bengal at Utaray (2,000 m, April) and Tamrong (2,700 m, May), typical of its occurrence in temperate broad-leaved and mixed forests, forest margins, and shrubberies between roughly 1,500 and 3,000 m, where it flowers in spring as the new foliage expands.

The plant forms a shrub to small tree with opposite, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate leaves that are finely serrate, acuminate, and sparsely hairy on the veins beneath. The flowers are borne in pendulous, paniculate cymes; the corolla is tubular with five spreading lobes, white flushed with pink (the epithet "erubescens" meaning blushing), and sweetly fragrant. The fruit is a small ovoid drupe that ripens from red to glossy black, containing a single compressed stone, and is readily taken by birds.

Viburnum, long placed in Caprifoliaceae, is now referred to Adoxaceae on molecular grounds. Viburnum erubescens is a variable species comprising several recognised varieties across its range, and its pendulous, tubular-flowered inflorescences distinguish it from most co-occurring Himalayan congeners. Widespread, adaptable, and locally common, it is of no conservation concern and is valued horticulturally as an ornamental flowering shrub.

Author: Wall. ex. DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Kern: Revision of Asian Viburnum

Viburnaceae

Viburnum nervosum

by G & P Jürgens

D.Don

Sikkim 2006 369 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tamrong 2800m, May

Description

Viburnum nervosum is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the temperate Himalaya and adjacent mountains, documented by GBIF (1437 occurrences) from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Taiwan, with further records reflecting cultivation elsewhere. It grows in moist temperate forest, forest margins, rhododendron thickets and open slopes, typically between about 2400 and 3600 m. The collection from Tamrong in West Bengal at 2800 m in May reflects its montane forest setting, where it is conspicuous in spring, often flowering on bare branches before or as the leaves expand in the cool, humid middle-mountain belt.

The plant is a shrub or small tree with stout twigs and prominent buds, the young growth and inflorescence somewhat stellate-pubescent. The leaves are opposite, broadly ovate to elliptic, cordate at the base, serrate, and strongly marked by deeply impressed, parallel lateral veins from which the epithet derives. The inflorescence is a rounded to flat-topped terminal cyme of small, fragrant, white to pinkish flowers, each with a short campanulate corolla of five lobes and five exserted stamens. The fruit is a small, ellipsoid drupe ripening from red to black, containing a single compressed stone.

Viburnum, long placed in Caprifoliaceae but here treated within Viburnaceae (Adoxaceae sensu lato), is distinguished by opposite simple leaves, cymose inflorescences and one-seeded drupes. The strongly nerved leaves and early-spring flowering readily characterise this species among Himalayan viburnums. Its fleshy fruits are dispersed by birds, and it regenerates well in forest gaps. Widespread and locally common, V. nervosum is of no conservation concern.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Kern & Hara Viburnum of the Himalaya (Flora of Eastern Himalaya)

Violaceae

Viola betonicifolia

by GP Jürgens

Sm.

Bhutan2014 109
Bhutan Trashigang 1550m, May

Description

Viola betonicifolia is a widespread, polymorphic violet ranging across South, East and Southeast Asia to Australasia, documented by GBIF in over 16,600 occurrences spanning Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and beyond. It grows in open grassland, meadows, grassy slopes, forest margins, roadsides and disturbed ground from low elevations to over 3000 m, tolerating a broad range of subtropical to temperate conditions. The illustrated plant from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at about 1550 m, flowering in May, represents a low-montane subtropical population at the warm end of this exceptionally wide ecological amplitude.

It is an acaulescent perennial herb forming a basal rosette from a short, stout rhizome. The leaves are erect and long-petioled, the blade narrowly triangular-lanceolate to hastate or oblong with a truncate to subcordate base and a crenate to entire margin, recalling those of Betonica (whence the epithet 'betony-leaved'); the stipules are adnate to the petiole and fimbriate. Solitary flowers are borne on slender bracteolate peduncles; the zygomorphic corolla of five unequal petals is violet to purple (rarely white), the lowest spurred and the laterals usually bearded. Summer cleistogamous flowers supplement the spring chasmogamous ones, and the fruit is an elastically dehiscent three-valved capsule.

A member of Viola section Viola (the stemless, spring-flowering rosette violets), V. betonicifolia is a notoriously variable species treated by some authors as a complex of regional forms. Its tolerance of disturbance, dual chasmogamous-cleistogamous breeding system and effective seed dispersal underpin its broad distribution, and it is of no conservation concern.

Author: Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of British India, W. Becker Violae Asiaticae

Violaceae

Viola moupinensis

by GP Jürgens

Franch.

Sikkim2004 339 G600
Sikkim/India Choka 3000m May

Description

Viola moupinensis Franch. is a stemless perennial violet of the Sino-Himalayan mountains, distributed according to GBIF across China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. It inhabits cool, moist temperate and subalpine forests, shaded grassy slopes, forest margins and stream sides, typically between about 2,000 and 3,500 m. The May record from Choka in Sikkim at 3,000 m reflects its flowering during the spring monsoon onset in mossy, humus-rich woodland, where it grows among ferns and other shade-tolerant herbs in the understorey of mixed conifer and broad-leaved forest.

The species is an acaulescent (rosette-forming) perennial arising from a short, stout rhizome bearing fibrous roots. The leaves are basal, long-petiolate, with broadly cordate to reniform-cordate blades that are crenate-serrate at the margin and somewhat pubescent, often enlarging considerably after flowering. The solitary, long-pedunculate flowers are pale violet to whitish with darker purple veining on the lower petals; the lowermost petal bears a short, blunt spur. As is typical of Viola, the plant also produces self-pollinating cleistogamous flowers later in the season, and the fruit is an ellipsoid, three-valved capsule that dehisces explosively to disperse the seeds, which are further dispersed by ants via their elaiosomes.

Viola moupinensis belongs to section Viola and is closely allied to the temperate stemless violets of Eurasia. Its combination of showy chasmogamous and reliable cleistogamous flowers ensures reproductive success in shaded, insect-poor forest understoreys. As a frequent and adaptable woodland species across a broad elevational and geographic range, it is not of conservation concern but is a valued component of Himalayan spring flora.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Wang Wencai: Violaceae monographic studies

Thymelaeaceae

Wikstroemia canescens

by G & P Jürgens

Meisn.

Nepal 99 57 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2700m, June
Nepal 99 935 ergebnis 1
West-Nepal Suli-Khola 2700m, July
Nepal 99 933 ergebnis
West-Nepal Ski-Khola 2700m, July
Garw 2005 236 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Guni 2350m, September

Description

Wikstroemia canescens (Meisn.) is a Himalayan to East Asian shrub of the family Thymelaeaceae, distributed from Pakistan and the northwest Himalaya through India, Nepal and Myanmar to China, Sri Lanka and Japan. The fewer than 600 GBIF records indicate a scattered but characteristically montane occurrence. It inhabits open slopes, forest margins, scrubland and rocky banks in the temperate zone, generally between 1,500 and 3,000 m. The several West Nepal localities at around 2,700 m, recorded from June through July, together with the Garhwal collection from Guni at 2,350 m in September, span its full flowering and fruiting season across the central and western Himalaya.

The plant is an erect, branching shrub up to about 2 m tall, with tough, fibrous bark and young branchlets covered in a fine greyish pubescence, hence the epithet canescens. The leaves are subopposite to alternate, shortly petiolate, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, entire-margined and somewhat silky beneath. The small, tubular flowers lack petals and consist of a yellow to greenish-yellow, four-lobed calyx tube; they are clustered in short, terminal, head-like or umbellate inflorescences. The fruit is a small, dry to fleshy drupe.

Like many Thymelaeaceae, Wikstroemia canescens possesses an exceptionally strong inner bark rich in long fibres, and in the Himalaya it is used locally for cordage and in the traditional manufacture of hand-made paper, a use shared with the related Daphne species. The genus is closely allied to Daphne, the two differing chiefly in floral merosity and indumentum, and generic boundaries within the group remain debated. The species is widespread and not currently considered threatened.

Author: Meisn. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Nepal, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Halda: The Genus Daphne and allied Thymelaeaceae (2001)

Lythraceae

Woodfordia fruticosa

by GP Jürgens

Kurz

Bhutan2014 147
Bhutan Trashigang 1470m, May
Nepal 2001 461 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Gunda 1700m, May

Description

Woodfordia fruticosa is a widespread Old World shrub ranging from the Indian subcontinent through China and Southeast Asia to Madagascar and tropical Africa, with GBIF documenting around 1657 occurrences across India, China, Madagascar, Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Thailand. It is a plant of warm, seasonally dry habitats, characteristically colonising open hill slopes, rocky outcrops, scrub, forest margins and disturbed ground from the lowlands into the lower hills. The plants recorded at Trashigang in Bhutan at about 1470 m and at Gunda in Gorkha, Nepal at about 1700 m, both in May, illustrate its presence in the subtropical mid-hill zone, where it flushes with bright flowers at the onset of the warm season.

It is a much-branched deciduous shrub with long, often arching or pendulous branches and grey-brown bark. The leaves are opposite or subopposite, sessile to subsessile, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, entire-margined, dull green above and densely whitish- or rusty-tomentose and gland-dotted beneath. The flowers are clustered in short axillary cymes and are conspicuously bright red to orange-red; each has a tubular, slightly curved, ribbed calyx (hypanthium) with short triangular lobes, minute or vestigial petals, and numerous long-exserted stamens, giving the inflorescence a brush-like appearance. The fruit is a small ellipsoid capsule enclosed within the persistent calyx tube, releasing numerous tiny seeds.

The tubular red flowers and copious nectar of W. fruticosa make it strongly ornithophilous, attracting sunbirds and other nectar-feeding birds that act as pollinators, while it is also valued by beekeepers. Dried flowers (known as dhataki) are widely used in traditional medicine and notably as a natural fermentation agent in Ayurvedic preparations, owing to abundant tannins and polyphenols. The sole or near-sole member of its genus, the species is robust, fast-colonising and locally abundant, and is not of conservation concern.

Author: Kurz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Graham Revision of the Lythraceae of the Indian Subcontinent