Hook.f.
Flowers of Nepal — 1313 wild plant species documented from the Nepalese Himalaya, from subtropical foothills to high alpine meadows above 4,000 m. Nepal’s dramatic elevation gradient makes it one of the richest botanical regions on Earth, home to rhododendrons, primulas, gentians and the famed blue poppies (Meconopsis). Every entry gives a botanical description, native distribution, habitat and flowering season, alongside the original field photograph and the location where it was taken.
T. Moore
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)
Hook. f.
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)
Balf. f. & R.E. Cooper
Description
Rhododendron papillatum is a narrowly distributed eastern Himalayan shrub recorded from Bhutan, China, India and Nepal, and is among the rarer species treated here with only about 19 GBIF occurrences. It grows in the upper temperate to subalpine zone, inhabiting open conifer and mixed forest, rhododendron thickets and shrubby slopes generally between roughly 3000 and 4000 m. The photograph from Jangchulakha in Bhutan at 3700 m in June captures it at its early-summer flowering season, when these high ridges carry a dense understorey of evergreen rhododendrons emerging from winter snow.
It is an evergreen shrub or small tree with stout branchlets. The leaves are leathery and elliptic to obovate, dark green and glabrous above, and distinctively papillate beneath, the lower surface bearing a thin papillose covering (the feature giving the epithet) rather than the dense indumentum seen in many relatives. The flowers are borne in a terminal truss; the corolla is broadly campanulate, white flushed pink to pale rose and usually marked with darker spots within, with numerous stamens and a glandular ovary. The fruit is a woody septicidal capsule that splits to release abundant minute seeds.
Within Rhododendron, this species is placed in subgenus Hymenanthes (the elepidote rhododendrons), a group strongly radiated across the Sino-Himalayan ranges where allopatry and elevation partitioning have produced many local endemics. Its restricted range and modest occurrence count make it a species of biogeographic interest and potential conservation concern, dependent on intact high-altitude forest. Pollination is chiefly by bees and other insects attracted to the conspicuous corollas.
Author: Balf. f. & R.E. Cooper · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Edinburgh / Cullen & Chamberlain)
Hook. f.
Description
Rhododendron pendulum is an epiphytic or epilithic dwarf shrub of the humid Eastern Himalaya, with verified occurrences in China, India, Bhutan and Nepal (further GBIF records from Britain and the United States represent cultivated stock). It is most characteristic of cool, mist-laden temperate forest, where it perches on mossy trunks, branches and rock faces, generally between about 2700 and 3700 m. The Bhutanese material illustrated, from the Tumching-La between roughly 3000 and 3500 m in April and May, captures the species in flower at the close of the cold season in its typical cloud-forest setting.
It is a small, straggling shrub with thin, often pendulous branches densely clothed, like the young growth and leaf undersides, in a soft rusty-brown woolly indumentum. The small, elliptic to oblong leaves are leathery, with revolute margins, dark green and somewhat rugose above and thickly tawny-tomentose beneath. The flowers are borne few together at the branch tips; the corolla is broadly campanulate to rotate, white sometimes flushed pink, and comparatively large for so diminutive a plant. The fruit is a small ovoid capsule that splits septicidally to shed numerous minute seeds adapted to dispersal in the canopy.
Rhododendron pendulum belongs to subgenus Rhododendron, section Pogonanthum and its allies, distinguished by its woolly indumentum and epiphytic habit, and was described by J.D. Hooker from his Sikkim explorations. Its dependence on permanently humid, moss-rich forest makes it a sensitive indicator of intact cloud-forest conditions, and although not presently regarded as threatened, it is vulnerable to forest degradation and to disruption of the orographic mist regime on which its epiphytic lifestyle depends.
Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Rhododendron (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh), Flora of China
Hook. f.
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)
D. Don
Description
Rhododendron setosum is a high-alpine dwarf shrub distributed through the eastern and central Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India (Sikkim), Bhutan, and southern Tibet (China), with 507 georeferenced occurrences confirming a continuous arc along the main range. It is a characteristic plant of the upper alpine zone, forming low cushions and open mats on exposed ridges, moraines and the margins of dwarf-rhododendron heath, frequently above the treeline between about 3500 and 5000 m. It was photographed at Tsochenchen, Bhutan, at 3800 m in June and on the Chele-La pass at 3950 m, where it grows alongside Cassiope fastigiata in cold, peaty acidic substrates exposed to strong insolation and wind.
It is a much-branched, prostrate to ascending evergreen shrublet rarely exceeding 30 cm, the young shoots densely setose with stiff bristly hairs and gland-tipped trichomes that give the plant a strongly aromatic resinous scent. The small leaves are elliptic to oblong, leathery, glandular-scaly (lepidote) on both surfaces and bristly-margined, crowded toward the branch tips. The flowers, borne in small terminal clusters, are broadly campanulate to funnel-shaped and a vivid pink-purple to magenta, with a setose, glandular calyx and exserted stamens. The fruit is a small ovoid septicidal capsule.
The species belongs to Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron, section Pogonanthum, a group of aromatic small-leaved lepidote rhododendrons centred on the Sino-Himalaya. Its glandular indumentum and powerful scent are diagnostic within this section. Ecologically it is a pioneer of disturbed alpine ground and a component of dwarf-shrub heath, tolerant of frost and intense radiation. Though locally abundant and not threatened, populations are sensitive to grazing and warming-driven shifts of the treeline.
Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Cullen & Chamberlain monograph)
Hook. f.
Description
Rhododendron thomsonii is an Eastern Himalayan endemic centred on Sikkim, Bhutan, adjacent northeastern India, southern Tibet (China) and easternmost Nepal, with the nearly 479 records also reflecting widespread cultivation in Britain, North America and continental Europe. In its native range it occupies the cool, humid temperate forest zone, the images documenting plants at Phobjika around 2800 m and Tongsa near 2000 m in Bhutan, flowering in May, together with material from Sikkim. It grows in fir and mixed broadleaved forest, on forest margins, in rhododendron thickets and on open rocky slopes between roughly 3000 and 4000 m, often where the monsoon brings high atmospheric humidity.
It is an evergreen shrub or small tree reaching several metres, with smooth, flaking reddish-brown to plum bark. The leaves are broadly obovate to orbicular, glabrous, glaucous beneath, rounded or emarginate at the apex and cordate at the base, borne on short petioles. The inflorescence is a loose terminal truss of few flowers; the corolla is fleshy, broadly campanulate and a deep blood-red to crimson, subtended by a large, cup-shaped, persistent and conspicuously coloured calyx that is diagnostic for the species. Stamens are ten; the ovary and curved style are glabrous, maturing into a woody capsule.
The species was described by J.D. Hooker from his Sikkim Himalayan expeditions and is the type of subsection Thomsonia within Rhododendron subgenus Hymenanthes. Its large fleshy calyx, glaucous foliage and waxy red bells distinguish it from related taxa and have made it a foundation species in horticultural breeding. Though restricted in distribution, it is locally common within suitable montane forest and is buffered by extensive cultivation, so it is not regarded as globally threatened, although habitat pressures affect parts of its native range.
Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh)
Hook. f.
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
Hook.
2100m April
Description
Rhododendron vaccinioides is a small epiphytic rhododendron of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent China and Southeast Asia, recorded from China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam and Japan, with some 245 GBIF occurrences. It grows as an epiphyte on mossy trunks and branches, and occasionally on rocks, in humid temperate broadleaved and conifer forest, generally between about 1600 and 3000 m. The documented populations span Wangdi Mo-Chu in Bhutan at 1600 m, Dongen in Nepal at 2400 m and the Mewa Khola in eastern Nepal at 2100 m, flowering in April and May in the cloud-bathed mid-montane belt.
It is a small, much-branched epiphytic shrub with slender, often pendent or sprawling branchlets bearing scattered scales (lepidote indumentum). The leaves are small, obovate to oblanceolate and somewhat fleshy, clustered toward the branch tips, vaccinium-like in aspect, hence the epithet, and lepidote beneath. The flowers are small, solitary or few at the branch ends, with a short-tubed, broadly funnelform to rotate, white to pinkish corolla that is sparsely scaly outside. The fruit is a small lepidote capsule splitting into valves to release numerous minute seeds adapted to wind dispersal among the canopy.
The species belongs to Rhododendron subgenus Rhododendron, section Vireya (the largely epiphytic, tropical-montane rhododendrons), of which it is one of the few representatives reaching the Himalaya. It is widespread and not threatened, but as an epiphyte dependent on humid, moss-laden old-growth forest it is sensitive to deforestation and to drying of the montane cloud belt.
Author: Hook. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Argent monograph of Rhododendrons of Subgenus Vireya