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.

Papaveraceae

Corydalis flaccida

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

BhutanPG2011 814 01 01
Bhutan Chele-La, 3700m July
BhutanPG2011 813
Bhutan Chele-La, 3700m July

Description

Corydalis flaccida is a Himalayan herb distributed through China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, with GBIF documenting 138 occurrences across this Sino-Himalayan arc. It grows in cool, moist montane to sub-alpine habitats, including forest margins, shrubberies, shaded banks, rocky slopes and stream-sides, broadly between 2700 and 4000 m. The photographed plant from the Chele-La pass in western Bhutan at about 3700 m, flowering in July, illustrates its monsoon-season blooming in humid high-pass environments where it grows among rocks and moist alpine scrub.

The species is an erect, somewhat lax, glabrous annual or short-lived perennial herb with brittle, often somewhat flaccid stems, as the epithet suggests. The leaves are alternate and two- to three-pinnately divided into small ovate to oblong segments, frequently glaucous beneath. Flowers are borne in elongating racemes subtended by leafy or dissected bracts; each zygomorphic flower has four petals in two whorls, the upper petal prolonged backward into a slender spur. The corolla is typically blue to purplish-blue, sometimes with darker tips, and the inner petals are apically connate over the stigma. The fruit is a slender, linear, dehiscent capsule containing several shiny black seeds, each usually bearing an oily elaiosome.

Described by Hooker and Thomson, the species belongs to the large, taxonomically complex genus Corydalis (Fumarioideae), notable in the Himalaya for its diversity of blue-flowered species. The elaiosome-bearing seeds promote myrmecochorous (ant-mediated) dispersal, while the spurred flowers are adapted for pollination by long-tongued bees. Like many Himalayan Corydalis it contains isoquinoline alkaloids of pharmacological interest. With a broad regional distribution it is not considered threatened, though its specialised high-elevation habitats are sensitive to land-use and climatic change.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Revision of the genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis govaniana

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 99 267 ergebnis
West-Nepal Loccu 3500m, June
Garw 2005 340 ergebnis
India Garhwal Baganathi 4150m, September

Description

Corydalis govaniana is a western and central Himalayan fumitory recorded from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan among its roughly 204 occurrences, a distribution centred on the moist temperate and subalpine zones of the inner Himalayan ranges. It grows on shaded forest floors, among rocks, along stream banks and in alpine meadows and scrub where soils are humus-rich and reliably moist. The cited stations span a useful altitudinal range, from Loccu in West Nepal at about 3500 m flowering in June to Baganathi in Garhwal, India, at around 4150 m flowering in September, illustrating its occupancy of the temperate-to-alpine belt and a flowering season that tracks the monsoon up the slope.

It is a perennial herb arising from a fleshy tuberous or stout fibrous rootstock, with erect to ascending, somewhat glaucous stems. The leaves are alternate and several times pinnately or ternately divided into small, often glaucous, ultimate segments, giving a delicate, ferny aspect. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes and are strongly zygomorphic, each with four petals in two dissimilar whorls; the outer upper petal is prolonged backward into a slender nectar spur, and the colour is yellow, the inner petals often tipped darker. The diandrous androecium has the stamens in two bundles typical of the genus, and the fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule splitting to release seeds that commonly bear an oil-rich elaiosome.

Corydalis, now placed in Papaveraceae (subfamily Fumarioideae, the segregate Fumariaceae of older treatments), reaches great diversity in the Himalaya and western China, where yellow-flowered species like C. govaniana, an old Wallich name, form a recognisable group distinguished by spur length, bract dissection and tuber form. The elaiosome-bearing seeds are dispersed by ants, a syndrome widespread in the genus. Widely distributed through the western Himalaya and frequent in suitable montane habitat, the species is of no particular conservation concern, though several Himalayan Corydalis are gathered for traditional medicine.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flowers of the Himalaya, Lidén and Zetterlund's monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis hookeri

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Nepal 99 291 ergebnis
Nepal Kalomura 4050m, June

Description

Corydalis hookeri is a high-alpine herb of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and the adjacent Chinese provinces of the Tibetan plateau and Yunnan. GBIF aggregates roughly 111 georeferenced occurrences, a modest figure reflecting both its restricted alpine niche and the difficulty of access to its terrain. It occupies open stony slopes, moist screes, moraine debris and the margins of melting snow-beds, typically between 3500 and 4800 m. The photographed plant from Kalomura in Nepal at about 4050 m in June illustrates its characteristic flowering season, coinciding with the brief window following snowmelt when the short alpine summer permits rapid growth and anthesis on freshly exposed gravels.

The species is a small, glabrous, somewhat glaucous perennial arising from a slender tuberous or fibrous rootstock. The stems are weak, often decumbent to ascending and few-branched. Leaves are mostly basal and long-petiolate, the blades two- to three-ternately or pinnately dissected into narrow oblong to linear ultimate segments, imparting a delicate, finely divided aspect. The inflorescence is a lax few-flowered raceme subtended by entire or lobed bracts. Each zygomorphic flower bears four petals, the upper one prolonged backwards into a slender curved spur; the corolla is blue to purplish-blue, frequently with darker tips, an adaptation favouring bumblebee pollination at altitude. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule containing several small black shining seeds, often bearing an elaiosome.

Taxonomically the genus Corydalis is exceptionally species-rich in the Sino-Himalayan region, the principal centre of its global diversity, and C. hookeri belongs to one of the alpine blue-flowered assemblages whose delimitation has long challenged monographers. Its seeds are typically myrmecochorous, dispersed by ants attracted to the oily appendage, while the alkaloid-rich tissues characteristic of the genus deter herbivory. No specific conservation threat is documented and the plant appears locally frequent within suitable habitat, though high-altitude endemics of this kind remain potentially sensitive to glacial retreat and warming-driven upward shifts of the alpine zone.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund Corydalis: A Gardener's Guide and a Monograph of the Tuberous Species

Papaveraceae

Corydalis juncea

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 95 122 P210 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3500m October
Nepal 95 123 P211 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3500m October

Description

Corydalis juncea is a slender alpine herb of the central and eastern Himalaya. GBIF records place it in Nepal, India, China and Bhutan, with around 148 occurrences reflecting its distribution through the high mountains of the region. It grows on open, dry to moist alpine slopes, gravelly ground, screes and rocky banks at high elevation, where it tolerates the harsh, exposed conditions of the upper montane and alpine belt. The photographed plant from south of the Rupien La in Nepal at 3500 m, recorded in October, illustrates its occurrence in the late-season alpine zone, where it can flower into the autumn before the onset of winter dormancy.

It is an erect, glaucous perennial herb with slender, rush-like, sparingly leafy stems, the epithet juncea alluding to this reed-like habit. The leaves are few, glaucous and divided into narrow, linear segments, the upper ones reduced. The inflorescence is a lax, few-flowered terminal raceme; each flower is markedly zygomorphic, with four petals, the outer upper petal extended backwards into a slender spur, the corolla yellow, often tinged or tipped with purplish-brown. The fruit is a narrow, linear-oblong capsule that splits to release small, shining seeds furnished with an elaiosome.

Corydalis is a large genus of the Fumarioideae, treated within the Papaveraceae, with a marked centre of diversity in the Sino-Himalayan high mountains. C. juncea belongs to the assemblage of yellow-flowered, narrow-leaved Himalayan species adapted to dry, open, high-altitude habitats. As in its relatives, the oil-bearing seed appendage promotes dispersal by ants, while the spurred flowers are pollinated by nectar-seeking bees, and the deep-seated rootstock allows the plant to survive the severe alpine winter.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China (Papaveraceae, Fumarioideae), The Genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis lathyroides

by GP Jürgens

Prain

Bhutan2012 925
Bhutan Tumching-La 3800m, October
Bhutan2012 926

Description

Corydalis lathyroides Prain is an Eastern Himalayan species known from Nepal, Bhutan and northeastern India (gbif_countries: NP, BT, IN), represented by only 28 occurrences in GBIF, indicative of a narrow range and limited collection. It is a plant of high subalpine to alpine habitats, occurring on open slopes, scree margins, scrub and rocky meadows, with a documented occurrence at Tumching-La in Bhutan at 3800 m, where it was photographed in October. This late-autumn record reflects an extended flowering season at the upper forest-to-alpine transition of the monsoonal eastern ranges.

It is a glabrous, glaucous herb with brittle, somewhat fleshy stems and a deep root or tuberous rootstock. The leaves are alternate, pinnately or ternately divided into oblong to obovate segments, the epithet lathyroides alluding to a vetch-like (Lathyrus) aspect of the foliage. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes; each is strongly zygomorphic with four petals, the upper petal prolonged backward into a conspicuous nectar spur, the colour typically yellow to purplish. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule (siliquiform) containing several shining seeds, often with an oil-rich elaiosome.

Corydalis, placed in subfamily Fumarioideae of an expanded Papaveraceae, is an exceptionally large and taxonomically complex genus richly developed in the Sino-Himalaya. The spurred flowers are adapted to long-tongued bees, while elaiosome-bearing seeds promote ant dispersal (myrmecochory). Given its restricted distribution and sparse records, the species merits monitoring, though no formal conservation assessment has been published.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated checklist of the flowering plants of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis latiflora 

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 99 795 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4500m, July
Nepal 99 794 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4500m, July

Description

Corydalis latiflora is a high-alpine perennial herb of the central and western Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, northern India and Bhutan with some extension into south-western China, a comparatively narrow distribution reflected in around 78 occurrence records. It grows on open screes, moraines, rocky alpine slopes and gravelly flats, typically between about 4000 and 4800 m, well above the treeline. The specimen photographed at Baga-La-Phedi in west Nepal at 4500 m in July illustrates its flowering during the short summer growing season of the high alpine zone.

The plant is a low, often glaucous perennial arising from a slender rootstock or small tuber, with a tuft of finely dissected, several-times divided leaves bearing narrow ultimate segments. The flowering stems carry few-flowered racemes of zygomorphic flowers subtended by leafy or divided bracts; each flower has two small outer petals and two inner petals, the upper outer petal prolonged backwards into a conspicuous spur, the corolla broad and blue to purplish-blue as the epithet latiflora ("broad-flowered") suggests. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule (siliqua-like) opening to scatter small, shining seeds often bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis (Papaveraceae, subfamily Fumarioideae) is an exceptionally large and taxonomically intricate genus, with a great radiation of blue-flowered alpine species across the Himalaya and Hengduan mountains. C. latiflora belongs to this assemblage of high-elevation specialists. The spurred flowers are pollinated by bumblebees and other long-tongued insects, and the elaiosome-bearing seeds are frequently ant-dispersed (myrmecochory). As a narrow-range alpine endemic, it is of biogeographic interest and potentially sensitive to climatic warming of its high-mountain habitat.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis leptocarpa

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2014 185
Bhutan Trachyangtse 2300m, May

Description

Corydalis leptocarpa is a Sino-Himalayan to East Asian fumitory recorded from China, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Japan, Nepal, Thailand and Korea, with around 163 GBIF occurrences spanning this broad temperate range. It is a plant of shaded, humid forest, woodland margins, mossy banks and damp ravines, typically at montane elevations from roughly 1500 to 3000 m. The individual photographed near Trashiyangtse (Trachyangtse, eastern Bhutan) at about 2300 m in May illustrates its association with moist broad-leaved forest in spring, when the slender stems and pale flowers appear in the dappled understorey.

The species is a slender, erect to ascending annual or short-lived perennial herb with brittle, somewhat glaucous foliage. The leaves are bi- to triternately compound, the ultimate segments ovate and lobed, borne on delicate petioles. The inflorescence is a lax raceme of pale yellow, zygomorphic flowers; each has four petals, the upper outer one prolonged backward into a slender spur, enclosing two stamen bundles and an elongate ovary. The fruit, as the epithet leptocarpa ('slender-fruited') indicates, is a narrow, linear, pendulous capsule that dehisces elastically to scatter the shining black seeds, which often bear an oily elaiosome.

Corydalis is one of the largest genera of the Papaveraceae (subfamily Fumarioideae), exceptionally diverse in the Sino-Himalaya, where hundreds of species occupy habitats from forest floor to alpine scree. C. leptocarpa belongs to the yellow-flowered woodland element of the genus. Many Corydalis species rely on ant-mediated seed dispersal of their elaiosome-bearing seeds. With its wide East Asian range and tolerance of forest-edge habitats it is not considered threatened, though it remains tied to intact montane forest cover.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis megacalyx

by G & P Jürgens

Ludlow & Stearn

Nepal 99 518 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3800m, June
Nepal 99 520 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3800m, June
Nepal 99 788 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4400m, July

Description

Corydalis megacalyx Ludlow & Stearn is a narrowly distributed Himalayan endemic known with certainty only from Nepal, where GBIF records just 37 occurrences. It is a plant of the subalpine and alpine zones, growing on damp rocky slopes, screes, moraine debris and stream banks where moisture from snowmelt is reliable. The photographed populations in West Nepal, at Churta-Khola around 3800 m in June and at Baga-La-Phedi near 4400 m in July, indicate a habitat band roughly between 3800 and 4400 m and a flowering period coinciding with the early monsoon thaw of the western Nepalese high country.

The species is a glabrous, somewhat fleshy perennial herb arising from a slender rootstock. Stems are ascending to erect, bearing alternate, glaucous leaves that are divided into rather broad, lobed segments. The inflorescence is a few- to several-flowered terminal raceme; the flowers are strongly zygomorphic, with a conspicuously enlarged calyx that gives the species its epithet megacalyx. Each blue to purplish-blue flower bears a single posterior spur and the crested outer petals typical of the genus. The fruit is an elongate dehiscent capsule containing small black seeds furnished with elaiosomes.

Within Corydalis, this species belongs to the blue-flowered Himalayan alpine assemblage and is distinguished by its prominent persistent calyx, an unusual feature in a genus where sepals are usually small and caducous. Like its relatives, it is pollinated by long-tongued insects able to access the spur and is dispersed by ants. Its restricted known range and low occurrence count make it a species of biogeographic interest and potential conservation concern, though its remote high-altitude habitat affords some protection from direct human pressures.

Author: Ludlow & Stearn · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis, Stearn studies of Himalayan Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis meifolia 

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 99 628 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 4950m, July

Description

Corydalis meifolia Wall. is a high-alpine herb distributed along the Himalaya and adjacent ranges, with GBIF documenting some 251 occurrences across India, Nepal, China, Bhutan and Pakistan, with outliers reaching Japan. It is a plant of the upper subalpine and alpine zones, typically growing between roughly 3500 and 5200 m on open, gravelly slopes, moraine flushes, screes and damp meadow margins where snowmelt persists. The photographed population at the Kagmara-La in West Nepal, at about 4950 m in July, exemplifies its preference for cold, well-drained substrates that thaw only briefly during the short montane summer.

The species is a glabrous, somewhat glaucous perennial arising from a slender taproot. Stems are erect to ascending, often several from the base, and the foliage is finely divided: the leaves are two- to three-pinnate with narrow, almost filiform ultimate segments, recalling the foliage of Meum (hence the epithet meifolia). The inflorescence is a dense terminal raceme of zygomorphic flowers; each flower is yellow, bearing the characteristic single posterior spur of the genus, with the outer petals expanded and crested. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule containing small black seeds, typically each bearing an oil-rich elaiosome.

Within the large and taxonomically complex genus Corydalis, C. meifolia belongs to a Himalayan assemblage of yellow-flowered, finely dissected alpine species and is morphologically variable across its range, with several segregate taxa described. Like many high-elevation Papaveraceae it relies on insect pollination during the brief flowering window and on seed dispersal by ants attracted to the elaiosomes. The species remains locally frequent across its broad montane distribution and is not considered threatened, though populations are confined to the narrow, climatically sensitive alpine belt.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis pseudojuncea

by G & P Jürgens

Ludlow & Stearn

Nepal 99 135 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3800m, June

Description

Corydalis pseudojuncea is a poorly collected high-Himalayan herb known from a narrow range across Nepal, northern India and adjacent south-western China (Tibet), with only 14 GBIF records reflecting both its restricted distribution and the remoteness of its habitat. It occupies open alpine and subalpine ground – stony slopes, moraine flats and seasonally moist gravels – in the inner ranges. The cited gathering from south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at 3800 m in June places it in the early-summer flowering flush of the western Nepalese alpine zone, where snowmelt briefly supports such ephemeral fumitories.

It is a slender, glabrous and somewhat glaucous perennial herb arising from a small tuber or fleshy rootstock, the rush-like ("juncea") aspect alluded to in its epithet given by the few, narrow, much-reduced leaves and the wiry erect stems. The leaves are finely dissected into linear segments. The flowers are borne in a lax terminal raceme, zygomorphic and spurred in the manner of the genus, the outer two petals one of which bears a long backward-pointing nectar spur, the inner pair connate over the stigma; the corolla is pale yellow to bluish. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule releasing few shining seeds.

Corydalis is an exceptionally large genus with a Sino-Himalayan diversity centre, and C. pseudojuncea, described by Ludlow and Stearn, belongs among the narrow-leaved alpine species. Its spurred flowers indicate long-tongued bee pollination. Given its rarity in collections and limited known range it warrants monitoring, though insufficient data exist for a formal threat assessment.

Author: Ludlow & Stearn · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis