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.

Convolvulaceae

Cuscuta reflexa

by GP Jürgens

Roxb.

Bhutan2012 1238
Bhutan Trashigang 1150m, October

Description

Cuscuta reflexa, the giant or Asian dodder, is a widely distributed parasitic vine ranging across South, Central and Southeast Asia and beyond, with GBIF documenting more than 1000 occurrences from India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand and Myanmar among others. It occurs from the plains into the lower hills, the photographed plant deriving from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan at 1150 m in October. As an obligate stem holoparasite it has no true habitat preference of its own but follows that of its hosts, smothering shrubs, hedges and trees along forest margins, scrub, roadsides and cultivated ground in warm subtropical settings.

The plant is a leafless, rootless twining parasite with stout, fleshy, glabrous stems coloured yellow, orange or reddish, attaching to hosts by means of haustoria that penetrate the vascular tissue. Leaves are reduced to minute scales and chlorophyll is largely absent. The flowers are comparatively large for the genus, white to creamy, fragrant, and crowded in dense lateral racemes; the campanulate corolla has reflexed lobes (hence the epithet) and bears characteristic infrastaminal scales within the tube. The fruit is a globose capsule capped by the persistent corolla and opening circumscissily to release several seeds.

Cuscuta (now placed within an enlarged Convolvulaceae rather than a segregate Cuscutaceae) comprises around 200 holoparasitic species. C. reflexa is economically significant as a pest of cultivated and ornamental plants, yet is simultaneously valued in traditional South Asian medicine. Far from threatened, it is locally abundant and weedy; its parasitism exerts measurable effects on host vigour and on plant-community structure where it proliferates.

Author: Roxb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of British India (Hooker), Yuncker Monograph of the Genus Cuscuta

Convolvulaceae

Cuscuta reflexa

by GP Jürgens

Roxb.

Bhutan2015 57
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 2000m, October
Bhutan2015 58
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 2000m, October

Description

Cuscuta reflexa, the giant or Asiatic dodder, is a parasitic twiner widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia, from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka through Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand to China, with introduced records reaching Britain, Kenya, Mauritius, Iraq, Korea and the United States; its more than 1000 GBIF occurrences reflect both abundance and weediness. It occurs from the plains into the lower mountains, scrambling over shrubs, hedges, trees and crops in open scrub, forest margins, gardens and waste ground. The plant photographed at Wangdue Phodrang in Bhutan at about 2000 m in October sits at the upper part of its range, which extends from near sea level to roughly 3000 m.

It is a leafless, rootless holoparasite whose body consists of slender, much-branched, twining stems that are yellow to orange and essentially without chlorophyll, attaching to the host by intrusive haustoria that tap the vascular tissue. Leaves are reduced to minute scales. The flowers are small, white to creamy, fragrant and bell-shaped, borne in dense lateral racemose or spike-like clusters; the campanulate corolla has five reflexed lobes (the source of the epithet reflexa) and encloses scale-like infrastaminal appendages. The fruit is a globose capsule that opens by a circumscissile lid to release several small seeds.

Though listed here under Convolvulaceae, Cuscuta is frequently segregated into its own family Cuscutaceae; molecular evidence nests the genus firmly within Convolvulaceae, validating the family placement given. C. reflexa is the largest-stemmed Asian dodder and an agriculturally significant parasite that can damage ornamentals, hedges and tree crops, while also being widely employed in traditional medicine. Its broad, partly anthropogenic distribution and its appearance as an introduced weed in distant regions mark it as a successful generalist parasite.

Author: Roxb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Yuncker monograph of Cuscuta, Stefanovic Convolvulaceae phylogeny

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus himalaicus

by GP Jürgens

K.K.Shrestha

Sikkim2003 288 P391
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4250m August

Description

Cyananthus himalaicus is a high-alpine perennial known from the central and eastern Himalaya, with GBIF records concentrated in Nepal (gbif_countries: NP) and only seven documented occurrences, indicating a narrowly recorded and infrequently collected taxon. Like its congeners it inhabits open alpine turf, rocky slopes, screes and the margins of glacial meltwater, growing well above treeline in the cool, short-season environments of the inner ranges. The illustrated material was gathered near Saniti Lake in Sikkim at about 4250 m in August, when the late-summer flush of alpine flowering coincides with the waning monsoon, a habitat typical for the genus along the moist Himalayan crest.

The plant forms low, often mat-like or loosely tufted growth from a slender woody rootstock, with prostrate to ascending stems bearing small, alternate, entire to shallowly toothed leaves that are frequently revolute and somewhat fleshy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, with a campanulate to tubular corolla that is typically blue to violet-blue, five-lobed, and bearded within the throat by a ring of hairs, a hallmark of Cyananthus. The calyx is tubular and densely hairy, and the fruit is a capsule enclosing numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus of the bellflower family centred on the alpine zone, and C. himalaicus belongs to the assemblage of small-flowered, prostrate species adapted to exposed, well-drained high-mountain sites. Its limited occurrence data reflect under-collection in remote terrain rather than necessarily a restricted range; nonetheless its apparent rarity in records argues for attention to its alpine habitats, which are sensitive to grazing pressure and climatic warming.

Author: K.K.Shrestha · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Revision of the genus Cyananthus (Campanulaceae)

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus hookeri

by GP Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Bhutan2012 881
Bhutan Jakar 2200m, October

Description

Cyananthus hookeri C.B.Clarke is a small Sino-Himalayan herb recorded by GBIF from China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, with 641 occurrences distributed through the higher Himalaya into south-western China. It grows on open slopes, grassy banks, rocky ground and trail margins in the temperate to subalpine zones, typically between about 2200 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Jakar in central Bhutan, at roughly 2200 m in October, marks the lower end of its altitudinal range and illustrates its late-season flowering, the genus being characteristically autumn-blooming in the eastern Himalaya.

The species is a small, slender annual with prostrate to ascending, often branched stems. The leaves are alternate, small, ovate to obovate or oblanceolate, frequently with a few teeth and short hairs. The flowers are terminal and solitary, with a conspicuously inflated, hairy calyx tube; the corolla is broadly funnel- to bell-shaped, blue to pale blue or sometimes whitish, with the throat closed by a tuft of hairs and the lobes spreading. As in all Cyananthus, the fruit is a capsule that, distinctively for the family, dehisces from the apex downward to shed the numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is an Asian alpine genus of the Campanulaceae centred on the Himalaya and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, distinguished by its apically dehiscent capsules and the bearded corolla throat. Among its members, C. hookeri is one of the smaller, annual species, contrasting with the perennial, larger-flowered relatives of the genus. It is pollinated by alpine insects and is not regarded as threatened, being locally frequent and forming a characteristic component of the late-flowering meadow and slope flora of the central and eastern Himalaya.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Sprague revision of Cyananthus

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus incanus

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2012 84
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Bhutan2012 87
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Sikkim2003 136 G184
Sikkim Dzongri 3950m, August

Description

Cyananthus incanus is a low alpine perennial of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Tibet, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with about 777 occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open alpine turf, stony slopes, screes and the margins of dwarf rhododendron scrub, generally between 3500 and 4500 m, in well-drained sites of the upper alpine zone. The photographs from the Shele La in Bhutan at about 4100 m in September and from Dzongri in Sikkim at about 3950 m in August show the plant flowering through the late-monsoon and early-autumn season typical of the high eastern Himalaya.

The plant is a mat-forming or loosely tufted perennial with a stout, woody rootstock from which radiate slender, prostrate to ascending stems. The small leaves are alternate, ovate to obovate, entire or slightly toothed, and clothed in greyish hairs, the indumentum reflected in the epithet incanus. The flowers are solitary and terminal, comparatively large for the plant; the calyx is densely hairy and tubular, and the broadly bell-shaped to funnelform corolla is blue to purplish-blue with five spreading lobes and a conspicuous tuft of hairs (a beard) closing the throat, a hallmark of the genus. The fruit is a capsule splitting from the apex to release numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of the Campanulaceae distinguished from Campanula by its terminal solitary flowers, a deeply lobed corolla and the bearded throat. The cushion or mat habit and woolly leaves are typical adaptations to the cold, wind-exposed and sun-drenched conditions of the alpine zone. Several species, including C. incanus, are prized in alpine and rock gardens for their intense blue flowers. Locally frequent across its range, it is not regarded as threatened.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lammers' classification of the Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus inflatus

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bhutan2012 258
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Bhutan2012 106
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September

Description

Cyananthus inflatus is an annual herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent mountains, recorded by GBIF in some 605 occurrences from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar. It occupies open alpine and subalpine ground, including grassy slopes, screes, disturbed banks and the margins of trails and meadows, broadly between 3000 and 4300 m. The illustrated plant was photographed in Bhutan at the Shele-La at 4000 m in September, flowering late in the season as autumn approaches, when many alpine annuals complete their cycle on cool, well-drained slopes.

The plant is a slender, branching annual with ascending to decumbent stems bearing alternate, small, ovate to spathulate leaves that are entire or slightly toothed and sparsely hairy. The flowers are terminal and solitary on the branch tips, subtended by a leafy involucre. The calyx is conspicuously inflated and tubular, becoming swollen and membranous in fruit, clothed in dark or appressed hairs. The corolla is broadly campanulate, pale to deep blue, five-lobed and bearded within at the throat with a tuft of hairs characteristic of the genus. The fruit is a capsule enclosed by the persistent inflated calyx, splitting to shed numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus (Campanulaceae) is a Sino-Himalayan genus of around twenty species notable for its bearded corolla throat and superior to half-inferior ovary, distinguishing it from the related Codonopsis and Campanula. The epithet inflatus refers to the swollen fruiting calyx, a diagnostic feature within the annual group. GBIF treats the name as accepted. As a wide-ranging, often weedy annual of disturbed alpine ground, it is locally common and of no conservation concern.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Lammers studies of Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus integer 

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Garw 2005 294 ergebnis
India Garhwal Patanati 3600m, September

Description

Cyananthus integer is a cushion-forming alpine herb of the western and central Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from India, Nepal and adjacent territories across some 48 occurrences, with an accepted status under its current name. It is a plant of high-altitude open habitats: stony alpine meadows, gravelly slopes, rock crevices and the margins of moraine, typically between about 3300 and 4300 m. The photographed material from Patanati in Garhwal at 3600 m, flowering in September, illustrates both its preferred elevation and its late-season phenology, the blooms opening towards the close of the monsoon when many co-occurring alpines are already in fruit. Like other members of its genus it thrives on the well-drained, sun-exposed turf and screes of the upper alpine zone.

The plant forms low, somewhat trailing to ascending mats from a slender woody rootstock, with numerous prostrate or decumbent stems clothed in small, alternate, entire to shallowly toothed leaves that are often densely arranged toward the stem tips. The solitary, terminal flowers are the conspicuous feature: a broadly funnelform to campanulate corolla, blue to violet-blue, with five spreading lobes and a conspicuous tuft of hairs in the throat. The calyx is tubular and frequently dark-hairy, the stamens five, and the ovary inferior to half-inferior. The fruit is a capsule that releases small seeds, the persistent calyx aiding wind exposure on the open slopes.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus of roughly twenty species centred on the Himalaya and southwest China, distinguished from related Campanulaceae by its throat-bearded, often deeply lobed corolla and its alpine, cushion-forming habit. C. integer sits among the blue-flowered, entire- to weakly toothed-leaved species and is told from relatives by leaf form and indumentum. As a widespread but elevation-restricted alpine it has not been flagged as threatened, though high-mountain plants of this kind are increasingly studied as indicators of climatic shifts in the Himalayan alpine belt.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Cyananthus monograph (a revision of the genus by Sykes/Brown)

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus lobatus

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Bhutan2012 75
Bhutan Shele-La, 4100m September
Sikkim2003 114 G154
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 130 P176
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m 08.2003

Description

Cyananthus lobatus is a well-known Himalayan trailing bellflower distributed from Nepal through India, Bhutan and southern Tibet (China) into Myanmar, with the genus's comparatively abundant 515 GBIF records (additional European and North American codes reflect its popularity in cultivation). It grows in the alpine and upper subalpine zones on open grassy slopes, rock ledges, screes and moist turf, broadly between about 3000 and 4500 m. The plants illustrated, from the Shele-La in Bhutan at around 4100 m in September and from Dzongri in Sikkim near 4000 m in August, occupy this late-summer to autumn alpine habitat.

It is a low, mat-forming or sprawling perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, with prostrate to ascending, often reddish stems bearing small, alternate, obovate leaves that are usually lobed or toothed and somewhat fleshy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, large and showy for the plant's size; the broadly funnelform to bowl-shaped corolla is deep blue to violet-blue, five-lobed, and conspicuously bearded with white hairs in the throat, subtended by a swollen, hairy calyx tube. The fruit is a capsule enclosed in the persistent calyx, releasing numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a Sino-Himalayan genus distinguished from other Campanulaceae by its terminal solitary flowers, throat beard and superior ovary, and C. lobatus is its most familiar species, long valued as a choice late-flowering rock-garden plant, which explains its wide ex-situ record base. Its prostrate, cushiony habit suits exposed high-altitude ground. The species is widespread and locally common across the Himalaya and is not considered threatened, although alpine grazing and warming-driven upslope vegetation shifts could affect individual populations.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lammers Revision of Campanulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus macrocalyx subsp. spathulifolius

by GP Jürgens

(Nannf.) K.K.Shrestha

Sikkim2003 127 G173
Sikkim Dzongri 4000
Sikkim2003 128 G174
Sikkim Dzongri 4000m 08.2003

Description

Cyananthus macrocalyx subsp. spathulifolius is a high-alpine perennial of the eastern and central Himalaya and adjacent China, recorded from China, Nepal, Bhutan and India, with GBIF documenting about 56 occurrences for the taxon. It grows on open alpine turf, rocky slopes, stabilised scree and moraine in the alpine zone, commonly between 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant was found at Dzongri in Sikkim at about 4000 m in August, flowering late in the monsoon summer when its broad blue corollas appear among low alpine herbage on these exposed high ridges.

The plant is a low, somewhat tufted to prostrate perennial with slender, ascending or trailing stems arising from a stout rootstock and exuding milky latex when broken. The leaves are small, alternate and crowded, with spathulate to obovate blades (the source of the subspecific epithet), the margins entire to few-toothed. The flowers are solitary and terminal, comparatively large for the plant; the calyx is conspicuously inflated and large, as the specific epithet "macrocalyx" indicates, often hairy. The corolla is broadly campanulate, blue to purplish-blue, with five spreading lobes and a bearded throat; there are five stamens and an inferior to half-inferior ovary, maturing into a capsule.

The taxon belongs to Cyananthus (Campanulaceae), a Sino-Himalayan genus distinguished from Campanula by its hypogynous nectary disc and large calyx. Recombined by K.K. Shrestha, this subspecies is a regional variant of the polymorphic C. macrocalyx complex. A specialist of high, well-drained alpine habitats, it is naturally localised but not known to be threatened, though sensitive to grazing and warming-driven contraction of the alpine zone.

Author: (Nannf.) K.K.Shrestha · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, revision of Cyananthus (Shrestha)

Campanulaceae

Cyananthus microphyllus

by G & P Jürgens

Edgew.

Garw 2005 300 ergebnis
India Garhwal Kunol 3100m, September
Nepal 99 855 ergebnis
West-Nepal Sanu Bheri 3850m, July
Nepal 99 856 ergebnis
West-Nepal Sanu Bheri 3850m, July
Garw 2005 44 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Valley of flowers 3150m, September

Description

Cyananthus microphyllus is an alpine cushion-forming herb endemic to the Himalaya, documented from Nepal, India and China, with the available occurrence records concentrated along the central and western Himalayan arc. It grows in alpine meadows, on open stony slopes, rock ledges and the gravelly margins of glacial moraines, generally between about 3000 and 4500 m. The images, gathered at Kunol in Garhwal at 3100 m and in the Valley of Flowers at 3150 m in September and at Sanu Bheri in West Nepal at 3850 m in July, capture its late-monsoon flowering in high pastures and rocks where the mats anchor in thin, well-drained soils.

The plant forms low, much-branched, somewhat woody-based mats from a slender taproot. The wiry, prostrate to ascending stems are clothed in numerous small, alternate, ovate to elliptic leaves that are often revolute at the margin and sparsely hairy. The flowers are solitary and terminal, with a campanulate, conspicuously hairy calyx whose tube is shorter than the deeply five-lobed, blue corolla; the corolla throat bears a dense ring of white hairs, a defining feature of the genus. Five stamens alternate with the corolla lobes, and the inferior to half-inferior ovary develops into a capsule that exceeds the persistent calyx and dehisces to release numerous small seeds.

Cyananthus is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of perhaps two dozen species, allied to the bellflowers but distinguished by the bearded corolla throat and largely inferior ovary. Cyananthus microphyllus is recognised among the small-leaved, blue-flowered species by its diminutive, densely leafy mats. Its restricted high-elevation distribution makes it sensitive to climatic shifts and trampling by grazing livestock, and as a late-flowering alpine it provides an important resource for bumblebees and other cold-adapted pollinators.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton), revision of Cyananthus (Campanulaceae)