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.

Polygonaceae

Persicaria capitata

by G & P Jürgens

(Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross

Bhutan2012 949
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, October
Bhutan2012 950
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, October

Description

Persicaria capitata (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross is a mat-forming perennial native to the Himalaya and southern China that has become widely naturalised as an ornamental and weed. GBIF documents nearly 23,000 occurrences, with native records from India, Nepal, China and Taiwan and extensive introduced populations across Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan and Réunion. In its native range it grows on rocky banks, walls, gravelly slopes and disturbed mid-montane ground. The Bhutanese plant photographed at the Tumching-La, at about 2900 m in October, reflects its occurrence in the cool temperate zone of the eastern Himalaya.

The plant is a low, creeping herb that roots at the nodes to form dense mats; the slender, often reddish stems bear membranous ochreae at the swollen nodes. The leaves are ovate to elliptic, frequently marked with a dark V-shaped band and sometimes tinged purple. The flowers are aggregated into small, dense, globose heads borne on slender peduncles; the perianth is pink, five-lobed and persists in fruit. The fruit is a small trigonous achene enclosed by the perianth.

Widely grown as a ground-cover ornamental, P. capitata escapes readily and is recorded as an environmental weed in parts of the Mediterranean, Macaronesia, Australasia and the Americas. Its capacity to root at the nodes and spread vegetatively, combined with prolific seed production, underlies its colonising success. The species is not of conservation concern; instead it exemplifies how a Himalayan native can attain a near-cosmopolitan distribution through horticultural dispersal and subsequent naturalisation.

Author: (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Hara & Williams Polygonaceae treatments

Polygonaceae

Persicaria chinensis

by G & P Jürgens

(L.) H. Gross

Bhutan2015 92
Bhutan Galephug, 600m, October

Description

Persicaria chinensis (L.) H. Gross is a widespread, often weedy perennial of warm-temperate to subtropical Asia, now naturalised well beyond its native range. GBIF records over 12,500 occurrences spanning China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, the Malesian archipelago and the Philippines, with introduced populations in Australia, New Zealand, Réunion, the United States and Jamaica. It favours moist, disturbed ground, forest margins, roadside banks, streamsides and clearings from the lowlands to mid-montane elevations. The Bhutanese plant photographed at Galephug, at about 600 m in October, reflects its abundance in the humid foothill belt of the eastern Himalaya.

The plant is a sprawling to scrambling herb with branched, often reddish stems that are swollen at the nodes and sheathed by membranous ochreae characteristic of the family. The leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, frequently with a dark chevron-shaped marking, and taper to an acute apex. The inflorescence comprises numerous small, capitate clusters of flowers; the perianth is white to pinkish and five-lobed, becoming fleshy and bluish-black in fruit. The fruit is a trigonous achene enclosed by the persistent, juicy perianth, which gives the fruiting heads a berry-like appearance.

Segregated by some authors as Polygonum chinense, the taxon is morphologically variable, and several varieties and forms have been recognised across its vast range. Its fleshy fruiting perianth promotes endozoochorous dispersal by birds, contributing to its colonising success and to its status as an invasive in several introduced territories. The species is of no conservation concern; rather, its broad ecological amplitude and ready establishment on disturbed soils make it one of the more conspicuous and adaptable knotweeds of monsoonal Asia.

Author: (L.) H. Gross · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Hara & Williams Polygonaceae treatments

Polygonaceae

Persicaria wallichii

by GP Jürgens

Greuter & Burdet

Bhutan2015 483
Bhutan Pele-La 3100m, October
Sikkim2003 410 G570
Sikkim Zemu Valley 3400m August

Description

Persicaria wallichii (the accepted name under which this taxon is listed, the binomial here being treated as a synonym in GBIF) is a robust perennial knotweed native to the Himalaya and adjacent mountains of China and Myanmar, where it occupies open hillsides, forest margins, riverbanks and disturbed ground in the temperate and subalpine zones. From its Himalayan homeland it has spread widely as an introduced and frequently invasive plant, the GBIF dataset recording it across much of Europe as well as North and South America and New Zealand, totalling well over a thousand occurrences. The illustrated plants from Pele-La in Bhutan at 3100 m, flowering in October, and from the Zemu Valley in Sikkim at 3400 m in August, exemplify its native montane setting.

The plant forms tall, spreading clumps from a vigorous, far-creeping rhizome, with erect to ascending stems that are reddish-tinged and somewhat woody at the base. The leaves are large, ovate-lanceolate to triangular, acuminate, cordate to truncate at the base, often white-tomentose beneath, and subtended by membranous, brownish ochreae sheathing the swollen nodes. The numerous small flowers are borne in much-branched, lax panicles of slender spike-like racemes; each flower has a white to pinkish perianth of five tepals enclosing eight stamens and a trifid style. The fruit is a small, glossy, three-angled (trigonous) achene enclosed by the persistent perianth.

Formerly placed in Polygonum and Aconogonon (reflected in the synonymy and field labels), the species sits within a much-revised section of Persicaria. Its dense rhizomatous growth allows it to form persistent thickets, and outside its native range it behaves as an aggressive colonist of riverbanks and waste ground, prompting management concern in several countries; within the Himalaya it remains a common and ecologically benign component of moist montane vegetation.

Author: Greuter & Burdet · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Polygonaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Orchideaceae

Phalaenopsis taenialis

by G & P Jürgens

(Lindl.) Christenson & Pradhan

Bhutan2014 674
Bhutan Wangdi 2280m, May
Bhutan2014 676 scaled
Bhutan Wangdi 2280m, May
Bh2008 511 G785
Bhutan Chongsakha, 1800m April

Description

Phalaenopsis taenialis is a small epiphytic orchid distributed through the eastern Himalaya and adjacent regions, recorded from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam and Myanmar, with about 161 georeferenced occurrences. It grows on tree trunks and mossy branches in humid, broadleaved evergreen and semi-evergreen forest of the subtropical to lower temperate belt, broadly between 1500 and 2500 m. The cited Bhutanese localities at Wangdue (2280 m) in May and Chongsakha (1800 m) in April are typical of its moist, sheltered mid-elevation forest habitat, where it flowers in spring before the full monsoon.

It is a dwarf, monopodial epiphyte, often nearly leafless at flowering, with a short stem bearing well-developed, flattened, photosynthetic roots that clasp the bark. The leaves, when present, are few, thin and elliptic, and may be shed during the dry season. The inflorescence is a slender raceme of small, delicate flowers; the sepals and petals are pinkish to pale lilac, spreading, and the three-lobed labellum is the distinctive feature, with a callus and small lateral lobes characteristic of the species. The fruit is a dry, ribbed capsule releasing dust-fine seeds.

The species was long placed in Kingiella or Doritis and is sometimes segregated as Hygrochilus or Aerides allies, but is now treated within an enlarged Phalaenopsis following the combination by Christenson and Pradhan. Its deciduous, root-dominated habit is an adaptation to seasonally dry epiphytic perches. As a forest-dependent epiphyte vulnerable to habitat loss and orchid collection, it is of conservation interest across its range.

Author: (Lindl.) Christenson & Pradhan · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Christenson's monograph of Phalaenopsis

Fabaceae

Phanera vahlii 

by GP Jürgens

(Wight & Arn.) Benth.

Nepal 2001 184 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Sabha-Khola 2000m, May
Nepal 2001 476 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Labubhesi 1200m, May

Description

Phanera vahlii (formerly placed in Bauhinia) is a massive woody climber of the Indian subcontinent and Indo-Burmese region, native to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and China, with over 400 georeferenced records and many further occurrences reflecting cultivation and naturalisation elsewhere. It is a liana of subtropical forests, riverine thickets and forest edges. The Nepalese populations documented from the Sabha Khola in the east at about 2000 m and from Labubhesi in Gorkha at about 1200 m, both flowering in May, span its broad altitudinal tolerance from foothill valleys into temperate forest.

The plant is a gigantic, high-climbing leguminous vine ascending by paired, coiled tendrils, with stems and young parts clothed in dense ferruginous tomentum. The leaves are large, broadly orbicular and conspicuously bilobed at the apex, deeply notched between two rounded lobes in the manner characteristic of the Bauhinia alliance, the lower surface rusty-pubescent. The flowers are borne in large terminal panicles; each has a campanulate calyx and five cream to yellowish-white, clawed petals, with fertile stamens and reduced staminodes. The fruit is a large, woody, oblong pod densely covered with brown velvety hairs and containing several flattened seeds.

The segregation of Phanera from Bauhinia, based on tendrillate climbing habit, stamen number and pollen characters, is now widely followed though some authorities retain a broadly circumscribed Bauhinia. The species is economically important: its tough fibre yields cordage and its very large leaves are used as plates and for wrapping. Widespread and frequently exploited, it is not considered threatened.

Author: (Wight & Arn.) Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of British India, Flora of China, Wunderlin's revision of Bauhinia and Phanera

Hydrangeaceae

Philadelphus tomentosus

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex G. Don

Sikkim2011 33
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June
Sikkim2011 177
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June
Sikkim2011 390
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June

Description

Philadelphus tomentosus, the Himalayan mock-orange, is native to the temperate Himalaya, ranging from Nepal through Sikkim and Bhutan into northern India and SW China, with the many additional GBIF country codes (US, DE, BE, GB, PL and others) reflecting its wide cultivation as an ornamental shrub rather than a natural range. Some 388 occurrence records underpin this. The photographed plant was found at Lachung in northern Sikkim at about 2,600 m in June, at the onset of flowering. In the wild it is a shrub of temperate forest margins, ravines, open slopes and streamsides, typically between 1,800 and 3,000 m, often among mixed broadleaf and conifer woodland.

It is a deciduous shrub with arching branches and exfoliating bark on older stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, with a denticulate margin and three to five main veins from the base; the lower surface is densely tomentose with greyish hairs, a character giving the species its epithet. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes or panicles and are fragrant, with four white obovate petals, a cup-shaped hypanthium, four sepals and numerous stamens surrounding a four-locular inferior ovary tipped by partly divided styles. The fruit is a small woody capsule dehiscing loculicidally to release numerous minute seeds.

The genus Philadelphus is centred on the Northern Hemisphere and is taxonomically complex owing to hybridisation and horticultural selection; the leaf indumentum and floral dimensions distinguish P. tomentosus from related Asian species. Long valued in gardens for its scented blossom, it has naturalised in parts of Europe and North America. It remains common in its native montane forests and is of no conservation concern.

Author: Wall. ex G. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Hu: A Monograph of the Genus Philadelphus

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides bracteosa

by G & P Jürgens

(Royle ex Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm.

Nepal 99 353 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kalmura 3700m, June
Garh 07 209 ergebnis
India Garhwal Panwali 3300m, June

Description

Phlomoides bracteosa is a robust perennial herb of the alpine and subalpine zones of the western and central Himalaya and adjacent Central Asia. Its distribution, documented from over 330 georeferenced records, spans India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, China, Bhutan and Kazakhstan, reflecting a broad Irano-Turanian to Sino-Himalayan range. It favours open grassy slopes, forest margins, moist meadows and stabilised screes, typically between 2500 and 4000 m. The accompanying material was gathered at Kalmura in West Nepal at 3700 m and at Panwali in Garhwal, India, at 3300 m, both in June, near the onset of the monsoon flowering peak.

The plant forms erect, quadrangular, often purplish stems arising from a stout rootstock, reaching 0.5-1 m. The leaves are opposite, broadly ovate to cordate, rugose above with an impressed venation, crenate-serrate at the margin, and densely tomentose beneath. The inflorescence consists of several remote, many-flowered verticillasters subtended by conspicuous, often coloured and ciliate floral bracts that give the species its epithet. The two-lipped corolla is pink to purple, the upper lip galeate and bearded, enclosing didynamous stamens; the calyx is tubular with subequal teeth. The fruit is a schizocarp of four smooth trigonous nutlets.

The species belongs to a complex once treated under Phlomis, now segregated into Phlomoides on the basis of corolla, stamen and nutlet characters supported by molecular phylogenetics. It is a frequent component of Himalayan tall-herb and grazing communities, visited by long-tongued bees and bumblebees. Though not formally assessed, its wide range and tolerance of disturbed pasture suggest it is not currently threatened.

Author: (Royle ex Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Kamelin & Makhmedov revision of Phlomoides

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides breviflora

by GP Jürgens

(Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm.

BhutanPG2011 781 01 01
Bhutan Chele-La, 3800m July

Description

Phlomoides breviflora is a perennial herb of the Himalaya and adjacent mountains, recorded from Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, India and China. Its roughly 24 georeferenced collections indicate a fairly restricted, infrequently gathered species. It grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, open slopes, dwarf-shrub margins and grazed pasture, typically at about 3000-4200 m. The Bhutanese material from Chele-La at 3800 m in July is characteristic, the plant flowering through the high-summer monsoon on cool, open mountain turf at the upper limit of meadow vegetation.

It is an erect, more or less hairy perennial arising from a woody rootstock, the stems quadrangular as is typical of the mint family. The leaves are opposite, ovate to oblong with a cordate base and crenate margins, rugose above and paler and pubescent beneath, the upper leaves grading into floral bracts. The flowers are crowded in dense axillary verticillasters subtended by stiff bristly bracteoles; the tubular calyx is ribbed and the two-lipped corolla is comparatively short, hence breviflora, with a hooded, bearded upper lip and a spreading three-lobed lower lip, pink to purplish in colour. The four didynamous stamens lie beneath the upper lip, and the fruit comprises four smooth nutlets.

The species, based on the basionym described by Bentham and transferred by Kamelin and Makhmedov, belongs to Phlomoides, a genus segregated from the broadly defined Phlomis and characterised by its herbaceous habit and root structure; the original web placement under the Phlomis name reflects that earlier treatment. The dense bracteate verticillasters channel pollination by long-tongued bumblebees of the high Himalaya. No formal conservation assessment exists, but its relatively narrow range and dependence on intact alpine meadow leave it potentially sensitive to overgrazing and climate-driven habitat shifts.

Author: (Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Revision of Phlomoides (Lamiaceae) monograph

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides macrophylla

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall.) Kamelin & Makhm.

Nepal 99 380 ergebnis
West-Nepal Linji-Khola 3250m, June

Description

Phlomoides macrophylla is a Himalayan and Central Asian perennial mint distributed across Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, China and Afghanistan, with GBIF documenting roughly 120 occurrences along the main Himalayan arc and its western extensions. It occupies cool temperate to subalpine habitats, growing on open grassy slopes, in forest clearings, among shrubberies and on rocky banks, generally on well-drained soils in sunny to lightly shaded situations. The collection from Linji-Khola in western Nepal at about 3250 m in June is characteristic of its preferred subalpine elevation and its early monsoon flowering, when the herb-rich meadows of the inner valleys come into bloom.

The plant is an erect, robust perennial herb arising from a thick rootstock, the quadrangular stems clothed in stellate and simple hairs. As the epithet indicates, the leaves are conspicuously large, ovate to broadly cordate, with a crenate to serrate margin, a rugose upper surface and a densely tomentose, paler lower surface, the basal leaves long-petiolate and the upper ones reduced. The inflorescence comprises several dense, many-flowered verticillasters in the upper leaf axils, subtended by linear-subulate, often spinescent bracts. Each flower has a tubular, ribbed and toothed calyx and a strongly two-lipped corolla, typically purple, pink or pale violet, the hooded upper lip bearded and arching over the spreading three-lobed lower lip. Four didynamous stamens lie beneath the galea, and the gynobasic style yields four nutlets.

Described by Wallich and transferred to Phlomoides by Kamelin and Makhmedov, the species reflects the modern segregation of the herbaceous, rhizomatous Asiatic phlomises from the shrubby Mediterranean genus Phlomis s.str., a division supported by molecular phylogenetic study within tribe Phlomideae. Several Phlomoides species are used in regional folk medicine and as forage. Widespread and locally common in suitable montane grassland, P. macrophylla is not currently considered threatened, though it depends on the persistence of undisturbed subalpine meadow vegetation.

Author: (Wall.) Kamelin & Makhm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Bhutan, Mathiesen et al. phylogeny of Phlomoides

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides rotata

by GP Jürgens

(Benth. ex Hook.f.) Mathiesen

BhutanPG2011 369
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4000m June

Description

Phlomoides rotata (formerly Phlomis rotata) is a distinctive stemless mint of the high Himalaya and Tibetan plateau. GBIF records it from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Pakistan, with around 700 occurrences spanning the alpine zone of the Sino-Himalayan region. It grows on open stony slopes, gravelly alpine turf, screes and pasture between roughly 3700 and 5200 m. The plant illustrated was photographed at Jule-Tso in Bhutan at 4000 m in June, forming a flattened rosette pressed against the ground, the characteristic habit by which the species hugs the substrate in the windswept high-alpine environment.

It is an acaulescent (stemless) perennial arising from a thick rootstock, the leaves forming a low basal rosette appressed to the soil. The leaves are ovate to orbicular, crenate, rugose with impressed venation and clothed in greyish indumentum. As the epithet rotata (wheel-like) implies, the verticillasters are condensed into a dense, radiating, disc-like terminal head sessile in the centre of the rosette. The bilabiate corollas are purple to violet, the hooded upper lip protecting the four didynamous stamens; the fruit comprises four smooth nutlets enclosed in the persistent tubular calyx.

The genus Phlomoides was reinstated and broadened to absorb much of Phlomis following molecular phylogenetic studies in subfamily Lamioideae, hence the binomial transfer. The ground-hugging rosette habit is a classic adaptation to alpine cold, wind and grazing, minimising exposure while exploiting the warmer boundary layer at soil level. Widely used in Tibetan medicine, the species is collected from the wild; it remains common across its broad high-altitude range and is not considered threatened.

Author: (Benth. ex Hook.f.) Mathiesen · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Phylogeny and classification of subfamily Lamioideae (Lamiaceae)