Tag:

Nepal

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.

Grossulariaceae

Ribes luridum

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f. & Thomson

Bhutan2014 606
BhutanPhobjika 2810, May
Sikkim2011 76
Sikkim Tanghu 3900m, June

Description

Ribes luridum is a Sino-Himalayan currant distributed from south-western China through northern Myanmar, Nepal, northern India and Bhutan, with around 348 GBIF occurrences (the records from US, CA, PL and RU largely representing cultivated or herbarium material). It is a shrub of cool-temperate to subalpine forest, scrub margins and rocky slopes, typically between about 2800 and 4000 m. The collections from Phobjika in Bhutan at 2810 m in May and from Tanghu in Sikkim at 3900 m in June bracket this altitudinal range and its late-spring to early-summer flowering, on moist, humus-rich ground at and above the upper forest belt.

It is a deciduous, unarmed shrub with spreading branches and finely glandular young growth. The leaves are alternate, orbicular-cordate in outline and palmately three- to five-lobed, the lobes crenate-serrate, sparsely pubescent and often glandular beneath. The species is dioecious or functionally so, the small flowers borne in short, few-flowered, pendulous racemes; each has a saucer-shaped to shortly campanulate hypanthium and five small, dull purplish to lurid greenish-brown petals and sepals, the colouration alluded to by the epithet. The fruit is a small subglobose berry, glandular-bristly and reddish to dark purple when ripe.

Within Ribes the species sits in the section of unarmed currants and is distinguished by its dingy, glandular flowers and dioecious tendency. The pendulous berries are dispersed by frugivorous birds, an important agent in fragmented montane forest, while the inconspicuous flowers attract small bees and flies. The species is widespread across the eastern Himalaya and faces no recognised conservation threat.

Author: Hook. f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, A Monograph of the Genus Ribes

Grossulariaceae

Ribes takare

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Sikkim2011 365
Sikkim Lada-La 3900m, June
Bh2008 12 P20
Bhutan Thimphu-Chu, 2750m April
Sikkim2004 62 P110
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2700m April
Sikkim 2006 30 ergebnis
India West-Bengal Tonglu 3150m, May

Description

Ribes takare is a Himalayan currant distributed along the temperate and subalpine belt from Afghanistan through Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bhutan into southwestern China and Myanmar, with GBIF recording close to a thousand occurrences across this arc. It grows in moist temperate and upper montane forest, forest margins, shrubberies, ravines and rocky slopes, typically between about 2500 and 4000 m. The image caption documents this range well, with collections from the Lada La in Sikkim at 3900 m in June, the Thimphu Chu in Bhutan at 2750 m in April, Bersay in West Bengal at 2700 m in April, and Tonglu at 3150 m in May, showing both its broad altitudinal span and its spring-to-early-summer flowering as the snowline retreats.

It is a deciduous, spineless (unarmed) shrub up to about 2-3 m tall, with greyish, peeling bark and glandular-pubescent young shoots. The leaves are alternate, palmately three- to five-lobed with crenate-serrate margins and a cordate base, somewhat resembling a maple leaf and often glandular-hairy beneath. The flowers are borne in many-flowered, pendulous racemes; they are small and reddish to purplish-brown, with a saucer-shaped to shallowly campanulate hypanthium, five reflexed sepals, five smaller petals, five stamens and an inferior ovary. The fruit is a glandular-bristly, reddish to purplish-black berry that is edible but rather acidic and somewhat resinous.

The genus Ribes, sole genus of Grossulariaceae, is well represented in the Himalaya, where R. takare belongs to the unarmed, raceme-flowered black-currant alliance and has been treated under synonyms including R. acuminatum and R. glaciale-related names by various authors. Its pendent racemes of nectariferous flowers attract bees and other insects, while the berries are dispersed by birds and small mammals; the species forms an understorey component of moist Himalayan forest. It is widespread and common across its extensive range and is of no conservation concern, while its acidic fruits are gathered locally and its hardiness has drawn modest horticultural interest.

Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Berger's taxonomic review of Ribes

Asparagaceae

Rohdea nepalensis

by GP Jürgens

(Raf.) N.Tanaka

Nepal1992 155 P227 ergebnis
Nepal Simbua-Khola 2000m March 

Description

Rohdea nepalensis is a rhizomatous perennial herb of the Himalaya and adjacent montane Asia, documented by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand across some 133 occurrences. It is a forest-floor species of shaded, moist broadleaved and evergreen forest, growing on humus-rich slopes, banks and rocky ground in the subtropical to warm-temperate zone. The photographed plant was recorded in Nepal in the Simbua-Khola at 2000 m in March, an early-season flowering in the cool, damp understorey characteristic of the species.

It forms clumps from a short, stout rhizome and produces basal, distichous, strap-shaped to oblanceolate leaves that are leathery, arching, prominently veined and tapered to a sheathing base. The inflorescence is a short, dense, sessile or shortly pedunculate spike borne near ground level, carrying numerous small, crowded flowers; each flower has a fleshy, urceolate to campanulate perianth of six connate tepals, usually pale yellow to greenish, with six included stamens and a superior ovary. The fruit is a one- to few-seeded berry that ripens red.

GBIF accepts the name, recombined by N. Tanaka, who expanded Rohdea to include species formerly placed in Tupistra and Campylandra; under that classification the plant appears in older literature under those genera. It is treated within an enlarged Asparagaceae (subfamily Nolinoideae, the former Convallariaceae/Ruscaceae). Several Rohdea are cultivated as evergreen ornamentals and used in traditional medicine. Widely distributed in suitable forest, R. nepalensis is of no conservation concern.

Author: (Raf.) N.Tanaka · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Tanaka revision of Rohdea

Rosaceae

Rosa brunonii

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bh09 42 P79
Bhutan Timphu 2500m, May
Nepal 99 165 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Tara-Lake 3000m, June

Description

Rosa brunonii, the Himalayan musk rose, is a vigorous climbing or scrambling shrub of the Himalaya and adjacent ranges, recorded by GBIF (435 occurrences) from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with cultivated and naturalised reports in Europe, North America and elsewhere reflecting its long history in gardens. It grows in forest margins, thickets, ravines, hedgerows and on open slopes throughout the temperate zone, generally between about 1500 and 3500 m. The plants illustrated from Thimphu in Bhutan at 2500 m in May and from south of Tara Lake in western Nepal at 3000 m in June capture its early-summer flowering across this elevational band.

The species is a robust, long-trailing shrub with arching, often reddish stems armed with stout, recurved, flattened prickles. The leaves are alternate, imparipinnate with usually five to seven leaflets that are oblong-lanceolate, finely serrate and characteristically greyish-green and softly pubescent beneath, with stipules adnate to the petiole. The flowers are borne in many-flowered corymbose cymes; each is fragrant, with five white, broadly obovate and emarginate petals surrounding numerous yellow stamens, the styles united into an exserted column. The receptacle ripens into a small, ovoid to subglobose, orange-red hip crowned by the deciduous sepals.

Rosa brunonii belongs to section Synstylae, the white-flowered, united-styled climbing roses, and is the principal Himalayan representative of the musk rose group long valued horticulturally and used in the parentage of cultivated ramblers. The clustered, scented flowers attract bees and other insects, and the bird-dispersed hips spread the species along forest edges. It is abundant and ecologically robust throughout its native range and is of no conservation concern.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, The Genus Rosa (Phillips & Rix)

Rosaceae

Rosa macrophylla

by G & P Jürgens

Lindl.

Garh 07 246 ergebnis
India Garhwal Barron Chatti 2450m, June
Garh 07 571 ergebnis
India Garhwal Barron Chatti 2450m, June

Description

Rosa macrophylla is a wild rose of the Himalaya and southwestern China, recorded from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with numerous cultivated occurrences across Europe and North America; GBIF holds around 1506 georeferenced records. It grows in open temperate to subalpine habitats: forest margins, scrub, shrubberies, riverbanks and grassy slopes, typically between about 2400 and 3700 m. The photographed plant from Barron Chatti in Garhwal, India, at 2450 m in June is characteristic of these mid-montane Himalayan settings, where it flowers in early summer along trails and woodland edges.

It is a deciduous shrub 2–4 m tall with stout, erect to arching reddish-purple stems that are usually sparsely armed with straight or slightly curved prickles, sometimes nearly unarmed. The leaves are imparipinnate with usually 7–11 leaflets, these elliptic to oblong, serrate, glaucous or pubescent beneath. The flowers are large, solitary or in few-flowered corymbs, with five broad bright deep-pink to crimson petals, numerous stamens, and a glandular-setose pedicel and receptacle. The fruit is a large, conspicuous, flask-shaped to oblong-ellipsoid scarlet-red hip crowned by the persistent erect sepals, enclosing numerous bony achenes.

Described by Lindley, Rosa macrophylla belongs to section Cinnamomeae, the cinnamon roses, and is distinguished by its large flowers, large persistent-sepalled hips and big leaflets, having contributed to garden roses and several named cultivars and hybrids. The showy hips are dispersed by birds and mammals, while the flowers attract bees and other insects. Locally common across its Himalayan range and widely cultivated, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 9, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, The Genus Rosa (Phillips & Rix)

Rosaceae

Rosa sericea

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bhutan2014 399
Bhutan Yatong-La 2800m, May
Bhutan2014 400
Bhutan Yatong-La 2800m, May
Nepal 1994 253 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 2600m May 

Description

Rosa sericea is a Sino-Himalayan rose native to China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, widely grown and naturalised so that GBIF's roughly 2293 occurrences include records from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, North America and beyond. In the wild it is a shrub of the temperate and subalpine zones, occupying open slopes, forest margins, scrub and ravine sides generally between about 2200 and 4000 m. The cited material from the Yatong-La in Bhutan at 2800 m and from the Milka-Danda in eastern Nepal at 2600 m, both flowering in May, is typical of its preference for sunny, well-drained montane situations where it blooms in late spring.

It is an erect, much-branched deciduous shrub whose stout stems bear paired prickles, in some forms broadly flattened and translucent. The leaves are imparipinnate with several pairs of small, oblong, serrate leaflets, the lower surface frequently silky-pubescent, a feature reflected in the epithet sericea. The flowers are solitary and famously distinctive in being four-petalled rather than five-petalled, a rarity in the genus, the petals white to creamy and broadly obcordate, surrounding numerous yellow stamens. After flowering the receptacle develops into a fleshy, pear-shaped to subglobose hip, often red and in some variants bearing conspicuously swollen yellow or red pedicels.

Rosa sericea is placed in section Pimpinellifoliae, the group of small-leaved, prickly Asian and European roses, and is closely allied to R. omeiensis, with which it intergrades; the form with enlarged winged prickles is much prized horticulturally as 'Pteracantha'. Its four-merous corolla is of botanical interest as an exception within a genus otherwise rigidly pentamerous. The bright hips provide autumn forage for birds and small mammals, aiding seed dispersal, and the species is in no way threatened, being common in the wild and long established in cultivation.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of British India, Krüssmann 'Roses' and the genus Rosa monographic literature

Rosaceae

Rosa webbiana

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex. Royle

Nepal 99 45 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2800m, June
Nepal 99 46 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2800m, June

Description

Rosa webbiana is a wild rose of the dry inner Himalaya and the mountains of Central Asia, with a broad distribution reflected in its 1266 georeferenced records spanning India (IN), China (CN), Pakistan (PK), Afghanistan (AF) and the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan (KZ), Kyrgyzstan (KG), Tajikistan (TJ), Turkmenistan (TM) and Uzbekistan (UZ); many European and North American records represent cultivation. It is a plant of arid and semi-arid montane environments, favouring open stony slopes, dry valley scrub, riverbanks and forest margins, generally between about 1500 and 3500 m. The plant photographed at Nyor Gaad in West Nepal at 2800 m in June is typical of these sunny, well-drained inner-valley habitats where it flowers in early summer.

It is a deciduous, much-branched shrub with arching to erect stems armed with slender, straight or slightly curved, paired prickles. The leaves are pinnately compound with usually five to nine small, obovate to elliptic, simply serrate leaflets, often glaucous and somewhat glandular. The flowers are solitary or few, with a pink (rarely white) corolla of five broad, notched petals surrounding numerous stamens, and an entire, persistent calyx. The fruit is a smooth, globose to ovoid, bright red hip crowned by the persistent erect sepals, ripening in late summer.

Rosa (Rosaceae) is a large and taxonomically intricate genus with widespread hybridisation and polyploidy; R. webbiana belongs to the dry-zone section of true roses adapted to continental, low-rainfall mountain climates. Its hips are rich in vitamin C and are gathered locally for food, while the species is also of horticultural and breeding interest. Widespread and frequent across its range, it is of no conservation concern, though it is an important component of fragile, grazing-pressured inner-Himalayan scrub vegetation.

Author: Wall. ex. Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Boulenger and Ku monographic treatments of Asian Rosa

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea alpina

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Nepal 99 25 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chere 2850m June

Description

Roscoea alpina is a diminutive, hardy ginger relative widely distributed along the Himalayan arc from Pakistan and Kashmir eastward through India, Nepal and Bhutan into southwestern China (Xizang, Yunnan and Sichuan), with outlying records reaching Myanmar. With well over three hundred occurrences in GBIF and a long horticultural history, it is among the most familiar of the alpine Roscoeas; many of the country records from Europe, North America and Korea reflect cultivated and naturalised material rather than native populations. It grows on open grassy slopes, forest clearings, banks and alpine pastures, generally between about 2400 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Chere in West Nepal at 2850 m, flowering in June, is characteristic of these summer-moist meadow habitats, where the species emerges with the onset of the monsoon and dies back to a tuberous rootstock as the soil dries.

The plant is a small herbaceous perennial arising from a cluster of fleshy, fascicled root tubers. The short pseudostem is formed by overlapping leaf sheaths and bears a few narrowly lanceolate to linear leaves. Unlike most of its relatives, R. alpina typically produces a single flower at a time, opening successively. The flower is rose-pink to purple, with a long slender perianth tube; the dorsal corolla lobe arches as a hood over the floral parts, the lateral lobes are narrow, and the prominent two-lobed labellum, formed from staminodes, is reflexed and notched, serving as a landing platform for bee pollinators. A single fertile stamen and an inferior ovary complete the flower, the latter maturing into an elongate, several-seeded capsule.

Roscoea is a remarkable temperate offshoot of the otherwise tropical Zingiberaceae, having adapted to seasonal montane climates through its tuberous, deciduous habit and monsoon-synchronised phenology; the genus shows a striking Sino-Himalayan distributional disjunction. R. alpina sits among the small-flowered, solitary-flowered species and is one of the most cold-tolerant, accounting for its popularity in alpine and rock gardens. The family is here spelled "Zingiberacaea" following the source; the accepted form is Zingiberaceae. Though not globally threatened owing to its broad range, local populations are vulnerable to overgrazing and habitat conversion, and the species remains a model for studying the evolution of montane life in a predominantly lowland tropical lineage.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3 Part 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, The Genus Roscoea (Jill Cowley, Kew)

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea auriculata

by GP Jürgens

K.Schum.

Sikkim2003 49 W68
Sikkim above Yoksam 2200m 08.2003
Nepal 99 909 ergebnis
West-Nepal Hanke 2700m, July

Description

Roscoea auriculata is an eastern Himalayan terrestrial ginger recorded from India, China, Nepal and Bhutan across some 126 GBIF occurrences. The photographed plants were found above Yoksam in Sikkim at 2200 m in August and at Hanke in West Nepal at 2700 m in July, locations typical of its range in moist temperate forest glades, grassy banks and open slopes between roughly 2000 and 3000 m. Unlike most members of the predominantly tropical Zingiberaceae, Roscoea is adapted to cool montane conditions, dying back to a tuberous rootstock to overwinter and emerging with the summer monsoon.

The plant is an erect perennial herb arising from clustered fleshy, tuberous roots. The leaves are few, lanceolate and arranged distichously, their sheaths forming a false stem (pseudostem); the diagnostic feature signalled by the epithet is the conspicuously auriculate leaf-sheath base. The flowers are large, showy and orchid-like, deep violet to purple, emerging successively from a terminal cluster; each has a hooded dorsal corolla lobe, two erect lateral staminode-like structures and a broad, often bilobed reflexed labellum, with a single fertile stamen.

Note that the input family is given as "Zingiberacaea", an evident misspelling of Zingiberaceae, in which Roscoea is correctly placed. The genus is celebrated for its convergence on an orchid-like floral form, an adaptation for pollination by long-tongued bees, and is much prized in cultivation for hardy temperate gardens. R. auriculata has a relatively restricted eastern Himalayan distribution; though not formally threatened, it is locally collected and sensitive to habitat disturbance.

Author: K.Schum. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Cowley – The Genus Roscoea (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew monograph)

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea nepalensis

by G & P Jürgens

Cowley

Nepal 99 396 ergebnis
West-Nepal Talphi 2830m, June
Nepal 99 923 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2750m, July
Nepal 99 925 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2750m, July

Description

Roscoea nepalensis is a tuberous-rooted herb of the western and central Himalaya, recorded by GBIF chiefly from Nepal and adjoining SW China, with a modest tally of around 19 georeferenced occurrences reflecting its localised distribution. Unlike most members of the ginger family, Roscoea is montane and temperate rather than tropical, and this species inhabits open grassy slopes, forest margins and meadows of the middle hills. The photographed populations in West Nepal at Talphi (2,830 m, June) and Roha (2,750 m, July) are characteristic, the plants emerging and flowering with the onset of the summer monsoon at around 2,700–2,900 m.

The plant is a deciduous perennial arising from fleshy fascicled roots, with an erect leafy pseudostem formed by the imbricate leaf sheaths. The leaves are lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, sheathing at the base. The flowers are produced in a terminal spike, exserted from or partly enclosed by the leaf sheaths, and are strongly zygomorphic and orchid-like: a tubular calyx, a trilobed corolla with a hooded dorsal lobe, prominent petaloid lateral staminodes, and a large, deflexed, bilobed labellum, typically purple to violet. The fruit is an elongate capsule containing arillate seeds.

The family is given verbatim as Zingiberacaea (a misspelling of Zingiberaceae). Roscoea is a remarkable case of a predominantly tropical lineage that has radiated into cool Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan highlands, its summer-deciduous, tuberous habit being an adaptation to a markedly seasonal monsoon climate. The orchid-like floral architecture promotes pollination by long-tongued insects. The genus is of considerable horticultural interest, and species delimitation within the R. purpurea complex, to which R. nepalensis is allied, has been clarified by molecular and morphological study.

Author: Cowley · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Nepal, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Cowley: The Genus Roscoea (Kew, 2007)