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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.

Passifloraceae

Passiflora edulis

by GP Jürgens

Sims

Bh2008 493 G762
Bhutan Samtengang, 2200m April

Description

Passiflora edulis, the passion fruit, is a climbing vine native to subtropical South America (its core GBIF records cluster in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) but now pantropically cultivated and naturalised, with records spanning Australia, the United States, South Africa, India and China. In the Himalaya it occurs as an introduced and cultivated plant, and the photographed individual from Samtengang in Bhutan at 2200 m, flowering in April, reflects this cultivated status in warm-temperate hill country rather than a native occurrence. It thrives in disturbed ground, hedges, plantation margins and gardens, scrambling over supports in frost-free to mildly temperate conditions.

It is a woody, evergreen, tendril-climbing perennial vine with deeply three-lobed, glossy, serrate leaves bearing axillary tendrils by which it ascends. The solitary, axillary flowers are large and intricate, with five sepals and five petals subtending a conspicuous corona of long, wavy filaments, white above and banded purple toward the base. The androgynophore raises five stamens and a tricarpellate ovary with three styles above the corona, the whole structure famously interpreted as emblematic of the Passion. The fruit is a globose to ovoid berry, purple or yellow at maturity, with a tough leathery rind enclosing numerous arillate seeds in fragrant, juicy, edible pulp.

Passiflora is a large, predominantly Neotropical genus celebrated for its elaborate, often bee-, bird- or bat-pollinated flowers and for hosting specialised heliconiine butterfly larvae on its cyanogenic foliage. P. edulis is one of the most economically important species, grown commercially for its fruit, and exists in distinct purple-fruited and yellow-fruited forms. Vigorous and readily naturalising, it is regarded as a weedy invader in some warm regions, though in the Himalayan context it remains a cultivated introduction.

Author: Sims · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Killip's The American Species of Passifloraceae

Rubiaceae

Pavetta tomentosa var. Glabrescens

by GP Jürgens

(Kurz.) Bremek.

Nepal 2001 488 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Labubhesi 1100m, May

Description

Pavetta tomentosa var. glabrescens is a shrub of the warm subtropical and tropical forests of southern and southeastern Asia. GBIF records the species across a broad range encompassing India, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan, with some 530 occurrences. It grows in deciduous and semi-evergreen forest, woodland margins and scrub at low to mid elevations. The photographed material derives from Nepal in the Gorkha district at Labubhesi, around 1100 m, in May, a humid montane-foothill setting near the lower Himalayan slopes that marks the northern edge of its distribution.

The plant is an erect, branching shrub with opposite, simple, elliptic to oblong leaves that are entire, shortly petiolate and, in the typical variety, softly tomentose; in var. glabrescens the indumentum is reduced and the foliage tends towards near-glabrous, the distinguishing feature of the variety. Interpetiolar stipules are present, as is characteristic of Rubiaceae. The white, fragrant flowers are borne in dense terminal corymbose cymes; each has a four-lobed salverform corolla with a slender tube and a long, far-exserted style, the hallmark of Pavetta. Bacterial leaf nodules, harbouring nitrogen-related endophytes, occur as dark dots in the lamina. The fruit is a small globose, two-seeded berry, ripening black.

GBIF accepts the species, the variety reflecting the glabrescent extreme of a tomentose-pubescent continuum. Bremekamp, who monographed the genus, recognised numerous such infraspecific entities. The genus is notable for its near-obligate bacterial leaf symbiosis. Widespread and ecologically tolerant, the species is of no conservation concern.

Author: (Kurz.) Bremek. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Bremekamp monograph of Pavetta

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis bifida

by GP Jürgens

(Buch.-Ham.) Pennell

Nepal 99 901 ergebnis
West-Nepal Sepka 2700m, July

Description

Pedicularis bifida is a hemiparasitic perennial herb of the temperate and subalpine Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, India, Bhutan, China and Myanmar across some 250 documented records. It grows in moist meadows, forest clearings, shrubberies and along streamsides, generally between 2400 and 3800 m, flowering with the summer monsoon. The illustrated plant was collected at Sepka in West Nepal at 2700 m in July, within the typical mid-montane band where the species is most frequently encountered among tall-herb vegetation.

Like all lousewort, the plant is a root-parasite drawing water and nutrients from neighbouring hosts via haustoria. It forms erect, sometimes branched stems clothed with alternate to subopposite, pinnately lobed leaves bearing toothed segments. The flowers are aggregated into terminal leafy-bracted spikes or racemes; the calyx is tubular and toothed, and the strongly zygomorphic corolla is pink to rose-purple with a tube and a galeate upper lip whose apex is conspicuously bifid or beaked, the feature giving the epithet, and a spreading three-lobed lower lip. The four didynamous stamens lie within the galea and the fruit is an oblique, beaked loculicidal capsule.

The genus Pedicularis, transferred from Scrophulariaceae to Orobanchaceae on molecular grounds, reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where elaborate corolla architecture promotes specialised pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. The bifid galea of this species reflects such floral specialisation. As a widespread, locally common meadow component, P. bifida is not considered threatened, though it depends on intact host-rich grassland communities.

Author: (Buch.-Ham.) Pennell · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flowers of the Himalaya, Prain & Pennell revisions of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis clarkei

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

Sikkim2003 140 P189
Sikkim Dzongri 3920m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 193 P264
Sikkim Dzongri 3920m 08.2003

Description

Pedicularis clarkei is a hemiparasitic perennial lousewort of the eastern Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, China, India and Bhutan, with about 127 documented records and scattered cultivated or vouchered occurrences in France and Spain. It is an alpine plant of open meadows, moist turf, rocky slopes and snow-flush communities, growing predominantly between 3500 and 4500 m. The illustrated material was collected at Dzongri in Sikkim at 3920 m in August, a classic high-alpine ridge locality where the species flowers at the height of the short growing season.

As a root-hemiparasite the plant attaches to neighbouring hosts by haustoria while retaining green, photosynthetic foliage. It forms low tufted stems bearing alternate, pinnately divided leaves whose segments are toothed or further lobed. The flowers are crowded in terminal leafy-bracted spikes; the calyx is tubular and cleft, and the strongly zygomorphic corolla, pink to rose-purple, has a curved tube and a beaked, hooded galea (the upper lip) opposed by a broad three-lobed lower lip that serves as a landing platform. The four didynamous stamens are enclosed within the galea, and the fruit is an oblique, flattened capsule containing few seeds.

Named in honour of the botanist C.B. Clarke, the species belongs to the immensely diverse Sino-Himalayan radiation of Pedicularis, now placed in Orobanchaceae following molecular reclassification from the Scrophulariaceae. Its tubular, beaked corolla is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees active in the cool alpine climate. Though geographically restricted to high elevations, it is locally frequent within suitable habitat and is not presently regarded as threatened.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flowers of the Himalaya, Prain & Pennell revisions of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis confertiflora

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Nepal 99 510 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3800m, June

Description

Pedicularis confertiflora is a hemiparasitic herb of the high Himalaya and Tibetan borderlands, documented by GBIF from China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Mongolia and Korea, with around 378 occurrences concentrated in the central and eastern alpine zone. It grows in open alpine meadows, moist turf, rocky slopes and the margins of grazed pastures, where it taps the roots of surrounding herbs and grasses. The illustrated population grows in West Nepal at Churta-Khola at about 3800 m, flowering in June; the species generally occupies the 3500-4500 m belt where short-statured alpine vegetation prevails.

The plant forms low, often clustered stems from a slender rootstock, bearing pinnatisect leaves whose narrow segments are deeply incised and toothed, sometimes tinged purple. As the epithet confertiflora implies, the flowers are crowded into a dense, capitate to short-spicate inflorescence near the stem apex, each subtended by a pinnatifid bract. The calyx is tubular and lobed, while the bilabiate corolla, in shades of pink to purplish-red, bears a galeate, often beaked upper lip and a spreading three-lobed lower lip. The capsule is oblique and laterally compressed, releasing few flattened seeds.

The Himalayan species of Pedicularis exhibit remarkable corolla diversity, with beak length and curvature finely adapted to bumblebee pollinators that partition resources among co-flowering taxa; the dense, beaked flowers of P. confertiflora fit this syndrome. As an alpine hemiparasite it can suppress competitive grasses and so shape meadow diversity. No formal threat assessment exists, but its specialised high-elevation habitat is sensitive to climate warming and heavy grazing.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Pedicularis monograph (Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis diffusa

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Sikkim2011 197
Sikkim Lachung 3000m, June
Sikkim2011 230
Sikkim Lachung 3000m, June
Sikkim2003 261 P360
Sikkim Dzongri 4200m August
Sikkim2003 273 P376
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August

Description

Pedicularis diffusa is a hemiparasitic alpine herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan region, recorded from China, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Mongolia, with about 92 occurrences in GBIF. It inhabits subalpine and alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, scrub and the margins of forest, typically between about 3000 and 4500 m. The photographed populations come from Sikkim, at Lachung (3000 m, June) and at the high alpine site of Dzongri (4100-4200 m, August), spanning the species' altitudinal range and flowering from early summer into the late monsoon at the higher stations.

The plant forms loose clumps from a fibrous or somewhat thickened rootstock, with ascending to diffusely spreading stems, the habit reflected in the epithet diffusa. The leaves are pinnately divided into oblong, toothed segments and are arranged along the stems as well as basally. The flowers are borne in lax, leafy, often elongate and interrupted racemes; the corolla is pink to purplish-red, two-lipped, with a galea (hooded upper lip) and a broad three-lobed lower lip, the galea typically beaked or toothed at its apex. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule containing few seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, the species is a root hemiparasite, photosynthetic but tapping neighbouring plants via haustoria for water and minerals, an adaptation well suited to nutrient-poor alpine turf. The genus is extraordinarily diverse in the Sino-Himalayan mountains, and corolla architecture, particularly the form of the galea and beak, underpins species delimitation. Its tubular two-lipped flowers are adapted to bumblebee pollination. Restricted alpine specialists of this kind are potentially sensitive to climate warming and grazing pressure on high pastures.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis monograph (Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis elwesii

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

Sikkim2003 276 G379
Sikkim Dzongri 4300m, August

Description

Pedicularis elwesii is a hemiparasitic herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent high mountains of southwestern China, with a distribution spanning China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar and some 532 georeferenced records compiled by GBIF. It is a plant of the alpine zone, characteristically inhabiting moist meadows, open turf, streamsides and stony slopes above the treeline, generally between about 3500 and 4500 m. The photographed material from Sikkim, on the Dzongri ridge at 4300 m in August, typifies its preferred habitat among short alpine grassland during the summer flowering peak that follows snowmelt and coincides with the monsoon.

It is a perennial forming a tuft of erect to ascending stems from a stout rootstock, with chiefly basal and cauline pinnatisect to pinnatipartite leaves whose oblong segments are toothed and crenate. The showy inflorescence is a dense terminal spike subtended by leaf-like bracts. As in many Himalayan louseworts the corolla is strongly two-lipped: a hooded galea formed by the upper lip, here often produced into a slender beak, encloses the anthers, while the broad three-lobed lower lip serves as a landing platform. Flowers are typically rose-pink to purplish; the fruit is an oblique, beaked loculicidal capsule.

The species belongs to the large, taxonomically intricate genus Pedicularis, exceptionally diversified in the Sino-Himalayan region where floral specialisation reflects coevolution with long-tongued bumblebee pollinators. Like its congeners it is a root hemiparasite, drawing water and nutrients through haustorial connections to neighbouring alpine plants while retaining functional chlorophyll. No major conservation concern is recognised given its wide range, though its meadows are sensitive to grazing and climatic shifts.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis monograph (Tsoong / Prain)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis excelsa

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

Sikkim2003 486 P678
Sikkim Lachung Valley 3600m August

Description

Pedicularis excelsa is a tall hemiparasitic herb of the eastern Himalaya, recorded from Bhutan, India, Nepal, China and Mongolia; with only about 42 georeferenced records it is a regionally restricted subalpine to alpine species. It grows in open subalpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, forest clearings and streamsides, typically between 3000 and 4200 m. The plant photographed in the Lachung Valley of Sikkim at 3600 m in August occupies the monsoon-flushed alpine meadow zone, flowering at the height of the short Himalayan summer alongside other tall meadow herbs.

As the epithet "excelsa" suggests, it is among the taller lousteworts, an erect herb 40-100 cm tall with a stout taproot that forms haustorial connections to neighbouring plant roots. The stem bears pinnatisect leaves with toothed segments, partly basal and partly cauline. The flowers are crowded into a dense, elongate terminal spike; each corolla is strongly bilabiate, pink to purplish-red, with the upper lip (galea) compressed and beaked, enclosing the four didynamous stamens, and a broad spreading three-lobed lower lip. The calyx is tubular and toothed. The fruit is an oblique, beaked capsule containing several seeds.

Described by Hooker f. (Hook. f.), P. excelsa belongs to the large genus Pedicularis, now placed in the Orobanchaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae), which reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya. As a root hemiparasite it supplements its own photosynthesis by tapping host roots. The beaked galea is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees, which the Himalayan Pedicularis radiation has exploited through diverse corolla forms. Its restricted range and meadow habitat make it sensitive to overgrazing, though no formal threat status is assigned.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Sikkim Himalaya, Prain's revision of Indian Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis flexuosa

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f.

BhutanPG2011 88
Bhutan Chogcham, 3100m June
Sikkim2003 434 P603
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August
Sikkim2003 248 P341
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August

Description

Pedicularis flexuosa is an Eastern Himalayan louseword recorded from Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, southwestern China and Mongolia, with around 202 occurrences distributed along the high Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan plateau margins. It spans the upper montane to alpine zone, the images documenting it at Chogcham in Bhutan at about 3100 m in June and at Dzongri in Sikkim at about 4100 m in August during the monsoon. It grows in alpine and subalpine meadow, open grassy slopes, scrub margins and damp turf on moist, well-drained ground, behaving as a hemiparasite drawing water and nutrients from the roots of surrounding grasses and herbs through haustorial connections.

It is an erect perennial herb arising from a short rootstock, with simple or sparingly branched stems that are often somewhat flexuous, as the epithet implies. The leaves are alternate to subopposite and pinnatisect, the segments toothed, giving the characteristic fern-like foliage of the genus. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or interrupted raceme; the corolla is strongly two-lipped and pinkish-purple to rose, the galea (upper lip) hooded and often beaked, enclosing the four didynamous stamens, while the lower lip is three-lobed and spreading. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule containing several seeds.

The species, described by J.D. Hooker, belongs to the large and taxonomically complex genus Pedicularis within the Orobanchaceae, a clade of green root-hemiparasites. The elaborate galeate corolla is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees, and the diverse corolla architecture across the genus underpins striking floral radiation in the Sino-Himalayan region. Locally frequent in suitable alpine grassland, P. flexuosa has not been formally assessed but is not regarded as threatened across its montane range.

Author: Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis revision (Sino-Himalayan species, after Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis furfuracea

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Pedicularis furfuraceae ergebnis
Bhutan Pele-La, 2800m June
BhutanPG2011 688 01 01 scaled
Bhutan Pele-La, 2800m June

Description

Pedicularis furfuracea is a Himalayan louseword distributed across Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and southwestern China, with around 223 records following the southern slopes of the central and eastern Himalaya. It occupies the temperate to subalpine zone, the image documenting it on the Pele-La in Bhutan at about 2800 m in June. It grows in open forest, forest margins, subalpine scrub, grassy slopes and meadow on moist, humus-rich soils, where, like its congeners, it lives as a facultative root-hemiparasite tapping neighbouring plants for water and minerals while retaining green, photosynthetic foliage.

It is an erect perennial herb with simple or branched stems bearing alternate, pinnately divided leaves whose lobes are toothed, the whole plant often appearing scurfy or mealy, a feature reflected in the epithet furfuracea ("bran-like"). The flowers are crowded in a terminal spike or raceme; the corolla is conspicuously two-lipped and yellow to pale yellow, the galea forming an arched, beaked hood that shelters the four didynamous stamens, with a spreading three-lobed lower lip serving as a landing platform. The calyx is tubular and toothed, and the fruit is an oblique, compressed capsule containing several seeds.

Described by Wallich and Bentham, the species belongs to the immense genus Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae), a hemiparasitic lineage that has radiated spectacularly in the Sino-Himalayan mountains, producing great diversity in corolla form and beak length tied to bumblebee pollination. The yellow galeate flowers of P. furfuracea are visited by long-tongued bees, and its hemiparasitism allows it to thrive in nutrient-limited montane soils. Locally common within its elevational band, it is not considered threatened.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis revision (Sino-Himalayan species, after Tsoong)