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.

Colchicaceae

Disporum leucanthum

by GP Jürgens

H.Hara

Bhutan2014 212
Bhutan Trashyangtse 2100m, May
Bhutan2014 215
Bhutan Trashyangtse 2100m, May

Description

Disporum leucanthum is a woodland perennial of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent regions, recorded from China, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, with only some 35 occurrences in GBIF, reflecting both a relatively restricted range and limited collecting. It is a plant of shaded, moist broad-leaved and mixed forest, forest understorey and shaded streamsides, typically in the warm to cool temperate belt. The individual photographed at Trashyangtse in eastern Bhutan at 2100 m in May, flowering in spring under forest cover, is characteristic of its preference for humid, sheltered montane woodland where deep humus and dappled shade prevail.

The species is an erect, sparingly branched perennial herb arising from a short, creeping rhizome with fibrous roots. The slender stems bear alternate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaves that are conspicuously parallel-veined, entire and shortly petiolate to subsessile, with a rounded to subcordate base and acuminate apex. The flowers are pendent and borne singly or in small clusters at the branch tips; they are narrowly campanulate to tubular, with six free, white tepals (as the epithet indicates) that are sometimes greenish-tinged, each tepal spurred or saccate at the base. There are six stamens, and the superior ovary develops into a small, fleshy, globose to ovoid berry that ripens dark, containing several seeds.

Disporum is an East Asian genus now placed in the family Colchicaceae following molecular reappraisal, having formerly been treated within Liliaceae or Convallariaceae; the North American fairy-bells once included here are now separated as Prosartes. D. leucanthum belongs to the Sino-Himalayan assemblage of the genus, distinguished among its relatives by floral and tepal characters. The berries are bird-dispersed. Owing to its comparatively narrow distribution and the small number of documented records its populations warrant monitoring, though it is not formally assessed as threatened.

Author: H.Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal, A Revision of the Genus Disporum (Colchicaceae)

Anacardiaceae

Dobinea vulgaris

by G & P Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Bhutan2015 87
Bhutan Galephug 700m, October
Bhutan2015 86
Bhutan Galephug 700m, October
Bhutan2015 286
Bhutan Zhemgang 910m, October

Description

Dobinea vulgaris is a shrub or small subshrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjoining parts of southwestern China and northern Southeast Asia, recorded by GBIF from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand across roughly 263 georeferenced occurrences. It is a plant of warm subtropical lower hill slopes, occupying open forest, scrub, rocky banks, ravines and disturbed roadside ground, generally at low to mid elevations. The Bhutanese records cited here, from Galephug at about 700 m and from Zhemgang at around 910 m, both in October, place it firmly in the low foothill zone of the southern Himalaya, where it flowers and fruits towards the close of the monsoon. It favours seasonally warm, humid conditions and is frequently found in secondary vegetation.

The plant has soft, somewhat herbaceous to weakly woody stems and opposite, simple leaves that are ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, and conspicuously serrate or crenate-serrate along the margin, a foliage aspect unusual for the family. It is functionally dioecious: the small male flowers are borne in slender axillary or terminal panicles, while the female flowers are solitary or few and are remarkable for being adnate to an enlarged, persistent, leaf-like (foliaceous) bract that expands greatly in fruit and acts as a wing for wind dispersal. The fruit is a small compressed drupe-like structure carried on this accrescent membranous bract.

Dobinea is a small genus of only two species, and its placement within Anacardiaceae has historically been contentious; the herbaceous habit, opposite serrate leaves and unique bract-borne female flowers led some authors to segregate it (with Campylopetalum) into the family Podoaceae, although modern molecular phylogenetics confirms its position within an expanded Anacardiaceae, near the base of the family. This makes Dobinea vulgaris of particular interest to systematists studying the early diversification and morphological boundaries of the cashew family. The species is locally common within its range and is not regarded as of conservation concern.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Pell et al.: systematics of the Anacardiaceae (including the Dobinea/Podoaceae problem)

Asteraceae

Dolomiaea macrocephala 

by G & P Jürgens

DC. ex Royle

Garw 2005 147 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Kuari-Pass 3700m, September
Garw 2005 308 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Kuari-Pass 3700m, September

Description

Dolomiaea macrocephala is a stemless alpine thistle-relative of the western and central Himalaya and adjacent Central Asian highlands, recorded from India, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Iran and Mongolia, with about 131 occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open alpine slopes, stony pastures and grazed meadows of the upper subalpine and alpine zones, generally between 3000 and 4500 m, often in well-drained turf exposed to full sun. The photograph from the Kuari Pass in Garhwal, India, at about 3700 m in September shows the plant in fruit late in the alpine season among the short turf of the high-meadow belt.

The species is a perennial, essentially acaulescent herb arising from a stout taproot and a short rootstock. The leaves form a flat or appressed basal rosette and are pinnatifid to lyrate with spiny-toothed margins, green above and frequently white-tomentose beneath. As the specific epithet indicates, the conspicuously large flower heads are sessile or nearly so, sitting in the centre of the rosette; the involucre bears numerous imbricate, often spine-tipped phyllaries surrounding a head of purple, tubular disc florets. The achenes are oblong and crowned by a pappus of plumose or barbellate bristles aiding wind dispersal.

The genus Dolomiaea was long included within Jurinea and Saussurea and belongs to the thistle tribe Cardueae of the Asteraceae; molecular studies support its recognition as a distinct Sino-Himalayan and Central Asian lineage. The ground-hugging rosette and centrally clustered heads represent a typical adaptation to wind exposure and heavy grazing at high elevation. Several species, including this one, have a history of use in Tibetan and Himalayan herbal medicine. Widespread across its montane range, D. macrocephala is not regarded as threatened.

Author: DC. ex Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Susanna and Garcia-Jacas revisions of the Cardueae

Asteraceae

Doronicum kamaonense

by G & P Jürgens

(DC.) Alv.Fern.

Garh 07 333 ergebnis
India Garhwal Mahji 2650m, June

Description

Doronicum kamaonense is a perennial herb of the temperate and subalpine Himalaya, distributed across India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and south-western China, with some 191 georeferenced occurrences documented in the GBIF network. It is a plant of moist alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, stream margins, the edges of birch and rhododendron scrub, and rocky pastures, typically occurring between about 2500 and 4000 m elevation. The plant photographed at Mahji in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya at 2650 m in June, when its golden flower heads coincide with the early monsoon flush of the high pastures, sits squarely within this favoured montane zone, where snowmelt keeps the substrate cool and humus-rich.

The species forms a short, ascending or erect stem 15–45 cm tall arising from a knotty, often shortly creeping rhizome bearing fibrous roots. The basal leaves are long-petiolate with ovate to cordate, crenate or sinuate-dentate blades, while the cauline leaves become sessile and clasping, reduced upwards. The stems and foliage are clothed in glandular and eglandular hairs. Flower heads are usually solitary, terminal and radiate, 3–5 cm across, subtended by a hemispherical involucre of narrow, acuminate, pubescent phyllaries. The bright yellow ray florets are ligulate and pistillate; the disc florets are tubular and hermaphrodite. The fruit is a ribbed cypsela, those of the ray often lacking a pappus while the disc achenes bear a pappus of barbellate bristles.

Within Doronicum, a Eurasian genus of the tribe Senecioneae, D. kamaonense belongs to the assemblage of Himalayan leopard's-banes that diversified along the great montane arc. Its combination of cordate basal leaves and typically single heads distinguishes it from related taxa, though intergrading populations and broad morphological plasticity have long complicated its circumscription. Like many high-altitude Senecioneae it is insect-pollinated and flowers with the brief alpine growing season. The species is widespread and locally common across its range and is not regarded as threatened, though grazing pressure and trampling locally affect meadow populations.

Author: (DC.) Alv.Fern. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 20-21, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Pakistan, A Revision of the Genus Doronicum (Compositae)

Asteraceae

Doronicum roylei

by G & P Jürgens

DC.

Nepal 99 467 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3200m, June

Description

Doronicum roylei is a Himalayan leopard's-bane distributed from Pakistan and the Western Himalaya through India and Nepal into Bhutan, with GBIF recording 67 occurrences across PK, IN, NP and BT. It grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, on open grassy slopes, among shrubberies and along moist banks, broadly between about 3000 and 4200 m. The photographed plant was found in West Nepal at Churta-Khola near 3200 m, flowering in June. In the GBIF backbone the name is flagged as a SYNONYM, with Doronicum roylei itself given as the accepted name, so that binomial is retained here as the correct designation.

The species is a perennial herb arising from a short, often tuberous or knotty rhizome, with erect, simple or sparingly branched, glandular-hairy stems. The basal and lower leaves are petiolate, ovate to cordate and toothed, while the upper cauline leaves become sessile and amplexicaul, clasping the stem. The capitula are large, radiate and usually solitary (or few), with an involucre of narrow green phyllaries; the bright yellow ray florets are female and ligulate, surrounding numerous yellow, tubular, bisexual disc florets. The fruit is a cypsela, typically with a pappus of fine bristles on the disc florets, in the manner characteristic of the genus.

Doronicum is a genus of the tribe Senecioneae centred on the temperate mountains of Eurasia, with a notable Himalayan and Central Asian radiation. As a showy meadow composite it is a typical component of Himalayan summer-flowering alpine flora. It is locally common across its range and is not regarded as threatened, though grazing pressure affects accessible high pastures.

Author: DC. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Asteraceae: Senecioneae)

Brassicaceae

Draba gracillima

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Bh09 156 G278
Bhutan Labana 4130m, June

Description

Draba gracillima is a slender alpine whitlow-grass of the Himalaya, distributed across the Indian Himalaya, Nepal, south-central China (Xizang) and Bhutan, with around one hundred and twenty-six GBIF records reflecting a continuous high-mountain range. It occupies alpine meadows, stony slopes, rock ledges, screes and crevices above the treeline, generally between about 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed plant from Labana in Bhutan at 4130 m, flowering in June, typifies its early-summer flowering and its preference for the open, well-drained mineral soils of the upper alpine zone.

The species is a slender, tufted perennial arising from a branched caudex and forming small basal rosettes of leaves, the lamina narrowly oblanceolate to spathulate and clothed, as is typical of Draba, in simple, forked and stellate hairs. The flowering stems are filiform and few-leaved, giving the plant its delicate, gracile appearance. The inflorescence is a lax raceme of small flowers with four free yellow (fading whitish) petals in the cruciferous arrangement and six tetradynamous stamens. The fruit is a small, flattened, lanceolate to elliptic silicula on a slender pedicel, dehiscing to release several seeds per locule.

Draba gracillima is an accepted species of the large genus Draba (Brassicaceae, tribe Arabideae), one of the most species-rich and taxonomically intricate genera of arctic and alpine regions, characterised by variable trichome morphology of diagnostic value. Its cushion-forming caudex, dense indumentum and short silicula are adaptations to cold, wind-exposed, high-radiation alpine habitats. The species is widespread and not regarded as threatened, although its specialised high-altitude niche is sensitive to climate-driven range shifts.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Jordal & Al-Shehbaz revision of Draba (Brassicaceae monograph)

Brassicaceae

Draba oariocarpa

by GP Jürgens

O.E.Schulz

BhutanPG2011 656
Bhutan Thitha-Tso 4360m, July

Description

Draba oariocarpa is a high-alpine crucifer of the eastern Himalaya, known principally from Bhutan and adjoining areas, where GBIF holds only a single occurrence record, reflecting both its narrow distribution and its remote habitat. It is a plant of open alpine screes, stony slopes, moraines and frost-disturbed gravels of the upper alpine and subnival zones, generally above 4000 m. The photograph from the Thitha Tso in Bhutan at about 4360 m in July shows the species flowering in the brief high-summer window in its harsh, exposed lakeside scree habitat.

The plant is a small, tufted or cushion-forming perennial arising from a branched caudex topped by rosettes of leaves. The leaves are small, oblong to spathulate, entire or nearly so, and clothed in the stellate and simple hairs characteristic of the genus, giving a greyish, roughened texture. From the rosettes arise short, leafless or few-leaved scapes bearing a compact raceme of small flowers; these have four sepals and four yellow (sometimes fading whitish) petals in the cruciform arrangement typical of the Brassicaceae, with six stamens. The fruit, alluded to in the epithet oariocarpa (egg-fruited), is a small, ovate to elliptic, somewhat flattened silicula containing several seeds.

Draba is a very large, predominantly arctic-alpine genus of the Brassicaceae, taxonomically intricate owing to widespread polyploidy, apomixis and minor morphological differentiation, so that many narrowly defined species and synonyms have been described from the Himalaya and Tibet. The dwarf cushion habit and dense indumentum are classic adaptations to the cold, desiccating and intensely irradiated subnival environment. Given its apparently very restricted range and few documented collections, D. oariocarpa is poorly known and warrants further field assessment of its distribution and status.

Author: O.E.Schulz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Al-Shehbaz's systematic studies of Draba and the Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Draba oreades 

by G & P Jürgens

Schrenk

Nepal 99 656 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Kagmara-La, July

Description

Draba oreades is a circum-Asian alpine crucifer with a wide range across the mountains of Central Asia and the Himalaya into Siberia and Mongolia; GBIF records nearly 1200 occurrences spanning China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and beyond. It is a true alpine, growing on stony slopes, screes, moraines, rock ledges and gravelly alpine turf, generally above 3500 m and ascending well beyond 4500 m. The photograph from the Kagmara-La in West Nepal in July depicts it flowering in midsummer on a high Himalayan pass, the brief window when these cold-desert and alpine habitats become accessible to its yellow-flowered cushions.

It is a small, tufted or cushion-forming perennial herb arising from a branched, often woody caudex clothed in persistent old leaves. The leaves are mostly in dense basal rosettes, oblong to oblanceolate or spathulate, entire, and covered with stellate and simple hairs giving a greyish, scabrid texture. The flowering stems are short, leafless or few-leaved and bear compact corymbose racemes that elongate in fruit. Flowers are small with four bright yellow petals, fading paler. The fruit is a short, ovate to oblong-elliptic silicula, somewhat compressed and often twisted or hairy, containing several small seeds in two rows.

Draba is a large and notoriously complex genus of cold and high-mountain regions, and D. oreades belongs to the yellow-flowered, cushion-forming alpine assemblage adapted to short seasons, intense radiation and frost. Such compact, taprooted, densely hairy growth forms are classic alpine convergences conserving heat and moisture. The species is widespread and not threatened, serving as a characteristic pioneer of unstable high-elevation substrates throughout the Asian highlands.

Author: Schrenk · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Brassicaceae), Flora of Pakistan, Jordal & Al-Shehbaz studies of Draba

Brassicaceae

Draba radicans

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Garh 07 354 ergebnis
Garh 07 355 ergebnis
India Garhwal Dohdi-Tal 3400m, June

Description

Draba radicans is a high-alpine crucifer of the Himalayan chain, with GBIF documenting 55 occurrences from Nepal, India and Bhutan. It is a plant of the upper subalpine to alpine zone, growing among rocks, screes, moist turf and the margins of snowmelt flushes where competition from taller vegetation is slight. The image was taken at Dohdi-Tal in Garhwal, India, at about 3400 m in June, when receding snow exposes the open stony slopes and the rosettes come into flower at the start of the brief alpine growing season.

It is a small perennial herb forming low rosettes or loose mats from a slender taproot and branching caudex, the specific epithet radicans alluding to its tendency to root and spread at the base. The leaves are mostly basal, oblanceolate to spathulate, entire or obscurely toothed, and clothed in simple, forked and stellate hairs characteristic of the genus. The flowering stems are short and often leafless or few-leaved, bearing a short raceme of small flowers with four yellow (fading whitish) petals, four sepals and the tetradynamous stamens of the family. The fruit is a flattened, oblong to elliptic silicula on a short pedicel, containing several small seeds.

Draba (Brassicaceae) is one of the largest genera of arctic and alpine plants, with numerous narrowly distributed Himalayan species whose delimitation rests on trichome type and fruit shape. D. radicans is part of the diverse Himalayan alpine Draba assemblage, an element sensitive to climatic warming and the upward retreat of snowbeds. Though not formally assessed, its restriction to cold high-elevation habitats makes such alpine specialists of conservation interest as indicators of mountain ecosystem change.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Jafri's Flora of West Pakistan (Brassicaceae), Schulz monograph of Draba

Brassicaceae

Draba tibetica

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Sikkim2004 139 P241
Sikkim/India Singalila 3800m April

Description

Draba tibetica is a cushion- to mat-forming alpine crucifer with a wide distribution across the Himalaya, Tibetan Plateau and the mountains of Central Asia. GBIF records around 173 occurrences spanning India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal. It colonises stony alpine turf, rock ledges, fellfield and the gravelly margins of seasonal snowmelt, generally between 3500 and 5000 m. The illustrated population was found along the Singalila ridge of Sikkim, India, at 3800 m in April, flowering early as the higher slopes begin to thaw on well-drained, base-rich substrates.

The plant develops a woody, much-branched caudex bearing dense rosettes of small, oblanceolate to spathulate leaves clothed in stellate and simple hairs that give a greyish indumentum. Erect, leafless or few-leaved scapes rise above the foliage carrying short racemes of small flowers. The four petals are yellow, fading paler with age, exceeding the hairy sepals; the six tetradynamous stamens surround a superior ovary. The fruit is a flattened, ovate to elliptic silicula, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, held on ascending pedicels and splitting to release numerous minute seeds in two rows.

Draba (Brassicaceae) is a large, taxonomically intricate genus centred on arctic and alpine habitats, and D. tibetica belongs to the yellow-flowered Himalayan-Tibetan assemblage where cushion habit and indumentum vary clinally, complicating delimitation. GBIF treats the name as accepted. As a hardy pioneer of unstable high-altitude ground it is locally common and faces no recognised conservation concern across its extensive range.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Al-Shehbaz revisions of Draba (Brassicaceae)