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.

Asteraceae

Cirsium eriophoroides

by GP Jürgens

Petr.

Sikkim2011 257
Sikkim Lada-La 3800m, June
BhutanPG2011 284
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4200m June
Sikkim2003 412 W574
Sikkim Zemu Valley 3400m August

Description

Cirsium eriophoroides is a robust alpine thistle of the eastern Himalaya and Sino-Tibetan mountains, recorded from China, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, with about 234 GBIF occurrences. It grows in subalpine to alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, forest clearings and disturbed pasture, generally between about 3000 and 4500 m. The photographed plants come from Lada-La in Sikkim (3800 m, June), Jule-Tso in Bhutan (4200 m, June) and the Zemu Valley in Sikkim (3400 m, August), spanning the early and late high-Himalayan growing season.

The plant is a stout biennial or perennial herb with an erect, ridged, cobwebby-woolly stem reaching well over a metre. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid and conspicuously spiny along the margins, decurrent on the stem and white-tomentose beneath. The large capitula are solitary or few at the stem apex, subtended by leafy bracts and densely enveloped in long, white, arachnoid wool, the epithet "eriophoroides" likening this to the cottongrass Eriophorum. The involucral phyllaries are narrow and spine-tipped; the florets are tubular and purple to reddish, the fruit a smooth cypsela bearing a plumose pappus of feathery bristles.

Cirsium is a large genus of the tribe Cardueae, and C. eriophoroides represents the woolly-headed high-montane element well developed in the Sino-Himalaya. Its conspicuous capitula are visited by bumblebees and other long-tongued insects. Widespread and often associated with grazed ground, it is not regarded as threatened.

Author: Petr. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Compositae of the Sino-Himalaya (Cardueae studies)

Asteraceae

Cirsium falconeri

by GP Jürgens

(Hook.f.) Petr.

Bhutan2012 65
Bhutan Shele-La, 3900m September

Description

Cirsium falconeri is a robust subalpine to alpine thistle distributed along the Himalaya and adjacent ranges, recorded from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and south-western China (Xizang, Yunnan), with some 207 georeferenced occurrences documenting its broad east-to-west arc. It favours open grassy hillsides, forest margins, moist meadows and disturbed slopes between roughly 2700 and 4300 m, where it forms scattered stands among tall-herb communities. The photographed plant from the Shele-La pass in Bhutan at about 3900 m in September typifies its preference for cool, humid high-altitude grasslands flowering toward the end of the monsoon.

The species is a stout biennial or short-lived perennial herb 0.6–2 m tall, with erect, longitudinally ribbed, often arachnoid-tomentose stems arising from a thickened taproot. The leaves are large, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, glabrescent to thinly cottony above and grey-tomentose beneath, with the lobes spiny-margined and the stem-leaves decurrent or amplexicaul. The capitula are large, hemispheric and usually nodding, solitary or few, subtended by reduced spiny floral leaves; the involucral bracts are linear-lanceolate and spinescent. Florets are numerous, tubular and purple to pinkish-red. The cypselae are oblong and glabrous, crowned by a copious pappus of plumose, basally connate bristles aiding wind dispersal.

Within Cirsium, a large Holarctic genus of spiny-leaved thistles, C. falconeri belongs to the Himalayan assemblage of stout nodding-headed species and was originally described under Cnicus before transfer to Cirsium. The nodding capitula are interpreted as protecting pollen and developing achenes from monsoon rain, while the nectar-rich heads attract bumblebees and other long-tongued alpine pollinators. The species remains widespread and locally common and is of no recognised conservation concern, though high-elevation grazing locally affects populations.

Author: (Hook.f.) Petr. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 20-21, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Kitamura Compositae of the Himalaya

Asteraceae

Cirsium wallichii var. platylepis 

by G & P Jürgens

(Hook.f.) Aswal & Mehrotra

Garw 2005 76 ergebnis ergebnis
India Gaushon 3000m, September

Description

Cirsium wallichii var. platylepis is a Himalayan thistle taxon recorded by GBIF only from India, with about 8 occurrences, reflecting its status as a narrowly recognised variety raised by Aswal and Mehrotra from a Hooker name. It occupies open grassy slopes, pastures, forest margins, clearings and disturbed banks through the temperate and subalpine zones, broadly 2000 to 3300 m. The plant photographed at Gaushon in the Indian Himalaya at 3000 m in September, flowering and fruiting at the close of the monsoon, is consistent with its preference for sunny, somewhat disturbed montane grassland.

It is a robust biennial or perennial herb forming an erect, often winged and spiny stem from a stout rootstock. The leaves are oblong to lanceolate in outline, pinnatifid to pinnatisect, the lobes and margins armed with sharp spines and the undersurface frequently whitish-tomentose. The capitula are large and ovoid to subglobose, solitary or clustered, subtended by an involucre of many spine-tipped bracts; the variety platylepis is distinguished chiefly by its broader involucral phyllaries. The florets are tubular and pinkish-purple to whitish, and the cypselae are smooth and crowned by a pappus of plumose, feathery bristles that aid wind dispersal.

Cirsium is a large genus of true thistles in which Himalayan taxa form a difficult complex, and the variety platylepis represents fine-scale infraspecific differentiation within the widespread C. wallichii. The spiny armature and bitter foliage deter grazing in heavily pastured uplands, while the plumose pappus disperses the achenes effectively across open ground. As a narrowly defined variety with few records, its taxonomic standing merits further study, though the parent species is common and the entity is of no immediate conservation concern.

Author: (Hook.f.) Aswal & Mehrotra · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of India (Asteraceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Asteraceae), Petrak revision of Asian Cirsium

Menispermaceae

Cissampelos pareira

by GP Jürgens

L.

Bhutan2014 691
Bhutan Phobjika 2810m, May (see also Opuntia humifusa)
Nepal 97 29 P46 ergebnis
Nepal Dhoban 735m, April

Description

Cissampelos pareira is a pantropical climbing vine with an exceptionally broad distribution spanning the Americas, Africa, Madagascar and tropical Asia; GBIF records some 12107 occurrences across Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, India, Madagascar, Nepal, the Philippines, Ecuador and many other countries. It is a plant of warm, often disturbed habitats, scrambling over hedges, thickets, forest margins, fences and waste ground from sea level well into the hills. The collections cited from Phobjika in Bhutan at about 2810 m in May and from Dhoban in Nepal at about 735 m in April illustrate its wide ecological amplitude in the Himalayan foothills, where it persists from the subtropical lowlands up into cool mid-montane settings.

It is a slender, twining perennial herb or woody-based liana, the stems wiry and often finely pubescent. The leaves are alternate, broadly ovate to orbicular or peltate, frequently emarginate or mucronate at the apex and cordate to truncate at the base, with a long petiole inserted near the margin. The species is dioecious: the small greenish male flowers have fused sepals and a cup-shaped corolla with united stamens, while the female flowers are borne in axillary clusters subtended by conspicuous, often enlarged leaf-like bracts. The fruit is a small, laterally compressed, hairy red drupe with a characteristically curved (horseshoe-shaped) endocarp.

A member of the moonseed family (Menispermaceae), C. pareira is famous as a source of bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids and is used pan-tropically in traditional medicine, where it forms part of the complex of plants known as pareira brava. The curved endocarp and fleshy drupe are adapted to bird dispersal, which together with its tolerance of disturbance underlies its remarkable cosmopolitan spread. Taxonomically the species is broadly circumscribed and notoriously variable, encompassing numerous infraspecific forms, and it is widespread and of no conservation concern.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Diels Menispermaceae (Das Pflanzenreich)

Ranunculaceae

Clematis acuminata 

by G & P Jürgens

DC.

Garw 2005 251 ergebnis
India Garhwal Sitel 1850m, September

Description

Clematis acuminata is a woody climber of the Himalaya and adjacent uplands, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand and Bhutan, with around 173 occurrences spread along the southern ranges. It grows in temperate and warm-temperate forest, scrambling through shrubbery, over forest margins and along open hillsides and ravines, typically on well-drained slopes. The photographed plant was found in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya at Sitel around 1850 m, flowering in September as the monsoon wanes; the species generally occupies the 1500-3000 m belt where it climbs vigorously into the canopy of small trees and thickets.

The plant is a perennial liana with slender, ribbed, climbing stems that ascend by means of clasping, twining petioles. The leaves are opposite and pinnately or ternately compound, the leaflets ovate to lanceolate and conspicuously long-acuminate, giving the epithet, with entire or sparingly toothed margins. The flowers are borne in axillary cymes and lack true petals, the showy parts being four spreading, often pale to creamy or pinkish sepals surrounding numerous stamens. The fruit is a head of achenes, each tipped with a long, persistent, plumose style that aids wind dispersal.

Clematis belongs to the Ranunculaceae and is unusual in the family for its lianescent habit and petaloid sepals. The feathery styled achenes are a hallmark of the genus, ensuring effective anemochory across mountainous terrain. Like many relatives, the herbage contains acrid protoanemonin and is locally used in folk medicine. Clematis acuminata is moderately widespread but nowhere abundant; it is not formally assessed, and its forest-margin populations persist where montane woodland and scrub remain intact.

Author: DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Clematis monograph (Grey-Wilson)

Ranunculaceae

Clematis barbellata

by GP Jürgens

Edgew.

Nepal 99 580 ergebnis
West-Nepal Garpung-Khola 3400m, July
Garh 07 576 ergebnis
India Garhwal Seema 3400m, June

Description

Clematis barbellata is a Sino-Himalayan climber of the temperate and subalpine belt of the central and eastern Himalaya, with georeferenced collections (some 159 occurrences in GBIF) spanning India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Myanmar and adjacent China. It ascends through shrubberies, forest margins and open rocky slopes, scrambling over Berberis, Rosa and Rhododendron thickets between roughly 2700 and 3800 m. The species is well represented in the western and central Himalaya, as documented by the photographed populations from West Nepal at the Garpung-Khola at 3400 m in July and from Garhwal at Seema, India, near 3400 m in June, where it flowers during the early monsoon.

It is a woody, deciduous climber with slender, ribbed, often purplish stems clambering by means of twining petioles. The leaves are opposite and pinnately to biternately compound, the leaflets ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely toothed or lobed and somewhat hairy beneath. The nodding, campanulate flowers are solitary or few in the leaf axils and lack true petals; the four spreading to incurved sepals are dull purple to violet-brown, thick-textured and conspicuously bearded along the margins with pale hairs, hence the epithet barbellata. Numerous stamens surround the many free carpels, which mature into a cluster of achenes bearing long, plumose, persistent styles that aid wind dispersal.

Within Clematis, the species belongs to the group of montane, axillary-flowered bell clematises related to C. montana and C. connata, distinguished by its barbellate sepal margins. As a member of Ranunculaceae it contains protoanemonin-type compounds rendering the foliage acrid and unpalatable to grazers. Though restricted to high elevations, it remains locally frequent across a broad Himalayan range and is not considered threatened, its principal role being as a structural element of subalpine scrub.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grey-Wilson Clematis: The Genus

Ranunculaceae

Clematis buchananiana

by GP Jürgens

DC.

Bhutan2012 503
Bhutan Pele-La 3000m, September

Description

Clematis buchananiana is a widespread climber of the Himalaya and montane Southeast Asia, ranging from Pakistan and Nepal through India, Bhutan and southern China to Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam; with over 1100 GBIF occurrences it is among the better-documented Asian clematids, the scattered records from Britain, New Zealand and the United States representing cultivation. It scrambles over shrubs, forest margins, hedgerows and roadside thickets in temperate and subtropical zones, broadly between 1500 and 3000 m, flowering late in the season. The photographed plant from the Pele-La in central Bhutan at 3000 m in September shows its characteristic autumn flowering at the upper edge of its altitudinal span.

It is a woody to herbaceous perennial climber with ribbed, often pubescent stems and opposite, pinnate leaves bearing broadly ovate to cordate, coarsely toothed leaflets. The flowers, borne in axillary cymose panicles, are pendulous and bell-shaped (campanulate), the four thick, yellow to greenish-yellow tepals being densely tomentose outside and reflexed or recurved at the tips; true petals are absent. As in all Clematis the showy structures are sepaloid, surrounding numerous stamens and carpels. The fruit is a head of achenes, each bearing a long, plumose, feathery style that aids wind dispersal.

The species belongs to Clematis section Connatae (the nodding, campanulate-flowered, woolly-tepalled Asian group), in which it is distinguished by leaf form and the dense indumentum of its tepals. Ecologically valuable as a late-season nectar source, it is a common and adaptable species across a vast range and is of no conservation concern.

Author: DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, A Monograph of the Genus Clematis (Grey-Wilson)

Ranunculaceae

Clematis gouriana

by GP Jürgens

Roxb. ex DC.

Bhutan2012 1218
Bhutan Gom Kora 1850m, October
Bhutan2012 1216
Bhutan Gom Kora 1850m, October

Description

Clematis gouriana is a vigorous climbing vine with a broad tropical-Asian and Himalayan distribution, recorded from China, India, Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand and many other countries, with a large dataset of around 2207 occurrences. It scrambles over shrubs, hedgerows, forest margins, thickets and roadside vegetation, predominantly in subtropical to warm-temperate hill country. The photographed plant from Gom Kora in eastern Bhutan at 1850 m, flowering in October, exemplifies its autumn blooming in low to mid-elevation forest borders.

It is a woody to semi-woody liana climbing by means of twining, clasping petioles. The leaves are opposite and pinnately compound, usually with three to five ovate, acuminate, entire or toothed leaflets borne on slender stalks. The inflorescences are large, much-branched axillary and terminal panicles of numerous small, fragrant flowers; lacking petals, each flower has four spreading, creamy-white, narrowly oblong sepals and a central tuft of many stamens and carpels. The fruit is an aggregate of compressed, pubescent achenes, each bearing a long, persistent, plumose feathery style that forms silvery seed-heads dispersed by wind.

Clematis gouriana, described by Roxburgh and DC., belongs to a complex of white-flowered, panicle-bearing climbers in section Clematis and is morphologically close to species such as C. grata. Its massed autumn flowering provides abundant late-season nectar for bees and other insects. Widespread, fast-growing and tolerant of disturbance, it can behave almost weedily along forest edges and is of no conservation concern.

Author: Roxb. ex DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Ranunculaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grierson & Long Flora of Bhutan, Johnson's monograph Clematis: The Genus

Ranunculaceae

Clematis graveolens 

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 99 978 ergebnis
West-Nepal Dunai 2150m, July

Description

Clematis graveolens Lindl. is a Sino-Himalayan climber of the western and central Himalaya and adjacent Central Asia, with records from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and China; the GBIF dataset of 236 occurrences also reflects scattered cultivated material in Europe and North America. It occupies dry, open hillsides, rocky slopes, scrub margins and stony riverbanks in the temperate and subalpine belt, broadly between 1500 and 3500 m. The photographed plant near Dunai in West Nepal at about 2150 m, flowering in July, typifies its preference for warm, well-drained, sun-baked terrain in the monsoon-sheltered inner valleys.

The species is a woody-based, scrambling perennial climbing by means of twining, sensitive petioles. The leaves are opposite and pinnately to bipinnately compound, the segments narrowly lanceolate to linear, often pinnatifid, glaucous and somewhat fleshy, emitting a strong foetid odour when bruised that gives the plant its epithet. Flowers are solitary or in few-flowered cymes, nodding and broadly campanulate; the four spreading to recurved tepals are yellow to greenish-yellow, thinly tomentose without and glabrescent within. Numerous stamens surround the pubescent carpels. The fruit is a head of compressed achenes, each bearing a long, persistent, plumose style forming the characteristic feathery awn.

Within Clematis the species belongs to section Meclatis (the yellow-flowered, Atragene-allied group typified by C. orientalis and C. tibetana), distinguished by its campanulate yellow flowers and divided, malodorous foliage. It is a hardy xerophyte adapted to the continental, low-rainfall pockets of the western Himalaya, and is used locally in folk medicine as a counter-irritant. Widespread and frequent in disturbed scrub, it is of no conservation concern and has occasionally entered horticulture as a drought-tolerant ornamental.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Magnus Johnson — The Genus Clematis

Ranunculaceae

Clematis montana

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex DC.

Bhutan2014 36
Bhutan Sandrup 1000m, May
Bhutan2014 971
Bhutan Chele-La 3400m, May
Nepal 1994 66 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Jaljale Himal 2400m, April

Description

Clematis montana is a widespread Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan climber ranging from Pakistan and Kashmir eastward through Nepal, Bhutan and northern India into central and southwestern China and Myanmar. Reflecting its long history in horticulture, GBIF records exceed 6300 and include numerous cultivated and naturalised occurrences in Britain, continental Europe, North America, New Zealand and Australia alongside its native Asian range. In the wild it grows over an exceptionally broad elevational span, scrambling through forest margins, scrub, hedgerows and over rock from warm temperate valleys to high subalpine slopes. The Bhutanese material imaged at Sandrup (1000 m) and Chele La (3400 m) and the East Nepal population on the Jaljale Himal (2400 m), all flowering April to May, illustrate its vernal, pre-monsoon blooming across this range.

It is a vigorous woody climber with slender, ridged, eventually brown stems and clambering by twining petioles. The leaves are opposite and ternate, the three leaflets ovate to lanceolate, irregularly toothed or lobed and often softly hairy. Flowers are borne singly or in fascicles from the axils of the previous year's growth, each large and showy with four (occasionally more) spreading, petaloid sepals that are white to pink and frequently fragrant; true petals are absent. The numerous stamens have yellow anthers. The fruit is an aggregate of achenes, each tipped by a long, persistent, plumose silky style aiding wind dispersal.

Within Clematis the species belongs to sect. Montanae of spring-flowering, ternate-leaved climbers, and is morphologically variable, with several named varieties and many garden cultivars selected for flower colour and size. It is an early-season nectar source and a robust coloniser of disturbed and edge habitats. It is common and not of conservation concern; its naturalisation beyond Asia underscores its competitive vigour and broad climatic tolerance.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grey-Wilson's Clematis the Genus (monograph)