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.

Primulaceae

Primula strumosa

by GP Jürgens

Balf. f. & R.E. Cooper

Nepal 97 199 P408
Nepal Topke Gholam 3850m April
Nepal 97 164 G321
Nepal Topke Gholam 3850m April
Nepal 2001 352 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal 2001 353 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal (Gorkha) Rupina-La 3350m, May

Description

Primula strumosa is a Himalayan primrose recorded from Nepal, India, China, Bhutan and Japan, with about 152 GBIF occurrences along the central and eastern Himalaya. It grows in moist alpine and subalpine meadows, damp grassy slopes, rhododendron scrub and streamsides, typically between roughly 3300 and 4300 m. The plants photographed at Topke Gholam (about 3850 m, April) and at Rupina-La in Gorkha (about 3350 m, May) in Nepal exemplify its habit of flowering early in the season in wet montane turf, often soon after snowmelt when the yellow heads emerge above the developing foliage.

The species is a perennial rosette herb with a short rootstock and basal leaves that are oblong to oblanceolate, with crenate to denticulate margins, the blade narrowing into a winged petiole and frequently dusted with pale farina (meal) beneath. The flowering scape is erect and bears a terminal umbel of several flowers subtended by bracts. The corolla is yellow, salverform with a slender tube and spreading, notched lobes, the calyx campanulate and often farinose. The fruit is a capsule containing numerous small seeds, the flowers typically heterostylous with pin and thrum forms promoting outcrossing.

Primula strumosa belongs to the yellow-flowered Himalayan assemblage of section Petiolares and allies, a group of meal-bearing primroses centred on the high rainfall ranges from Nepal to Bhutan and adjacent China. These primroses are closely tied to permanently moist, cool habitats and to insect pollination of their distylous flowers. With a moderately wide range across the central-eastern Himalaya the species is not regarded as threatened, though as a moisture-demanding alpine specialist it is sensitive to changes in snow cover and meadow hydrology.

Author: Balf. f. & R.E. Cooper · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Richards' monograph Primula

Primulaceae

Primula stuartii

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Garh 07 401 ergebnis
Garh 07 416 ergebnis
India Garhwal 3900m, June

Description

Primula stuartii is a high-alpine perennial distributed across the Himalayan arc, with georeferenced records (some 140 occurrences) from Nepal, India, China and Bhutan. It is a plant of open, moist alpine meadows, rocky slopes and the margins of melting snow-beds, typically occurring between roughly 3000 and 4500 m. The population photographed in the Garhwal Himalaya of northern India at about 3900 m in June represents its characteristic habitat, flowering as the snow recedes and the short summer growing season begins on humus-rich, well-drained but seasonally saturated substrates.

The species forms a stout perennial rosette arising from a short, farinose-coated rootstock. The leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, narrowing into a winged petiole, with finely toothed margins and a conspicuous mealy-yellow farina coating the lower surface. A robust scape bears a terminal umbel of several to many flowers; the calyx is tubular-campanulate and the corolla is bright golden-yellow with a distinct annulate throat, the limb divided into spreading, often emarginate lobes. The capsule is cylindrical, exceeding the calyx, and dehisces by apical valves to release numerous small angular seeds.

Primula stuartii belongs to the large and taxonomically complex genus Primula, within which yellow-flowered farinose Himalayan species have long posed problems of delimitation; several segregates and varieties have been recognised in the regional literature. As a snow-bed and alpine-meadow specialist it is sensitive to grazing pressure and to shifts in snow-cover duration, making it a useful indicator of alpine ecosystem change. It remains locally frequent across much of its range and is not presently regarded as threatened.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Smith & Fletcher's monograph of Primula

Primulaceae

Primula tanneri subsp. nepalensis

by GP Jürgens

A.J.Richards

BhutanPG2011 270
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 3900m June

Description

Primula tanneri subsp. nepalensis is a subalpine to alpine primula of the Himalaya; under the GBIF backbone the name is treated as a synonym, with Primula tanneri nepalensis given as the accepted name. The GBIF records, though few (around ten occurrences) and centred on Nepal, accompany a wider distribution of the species through the Central and Eastern Himalaya including Bhutan. It grows in moist alpine and subalpine habitats, among open Rhododendron scrub, damp turf and shaded rocky slopes near the treeline. The plant figured was recorded at Jule-Tso in Bhutan at about 3,900 m in June, flowering early in the growing season.

It is a glabrous perennial herb with a basal rosette of obovate to oblong-spathulate leaves, the margins toothed and the blade tapering to a winged petiole, often more or less efarinose. The flowering scape is erect and bears a terminal umbel of several flowers, each subtended by linear bracts. The corolla is deep purple to violet, somewhat funnelform, with a short tube and a spreading limb of five emarginate lobes, the throat marked by a paler or yellowish eye. As typical of the genus the species is heterostylous, producing distinct pin and thrum morphs, and the fruit is a many-seeded capsule.

Primula tanneri belongs to the petiolarid alliance of Himalayan primulas, and subsp. nepalensis represents the western, Nepalese-centred expression of this variable species, distinguished by leaf and farina characters from the typical eastern subspecies. The heterostylous breeding system promotes obligate outcrossing by insects. With a restricted range and few documented populations it is naturally local; while not formally evaluated, such narrowly distributed alpine taxa warrant monitoring against climatic shifts.

Author: A.J.Richards · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Richards' Primula (monograph), Smith & Fletcher revision of Asiatic Primula

Primulaceae

Primula tenuiloba

by GP Jürgens

(G.Watt) Pax

BhutanPG2011 456
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4000m June
BhutanPG2011 561 1
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4000m June

Description

Primula tenuiloba is a diminutive cushion-forming primula of the high Eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India and Bhutan, with an outlying GBIF citation referable to Japan; the species is documented from some 92 occurrences. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, occupying moist rocky ledges, gritty turf, screes and snowmelt-irrigated crevices well above the treeline, typically around 4,000 m and higher. The illustrated material was gathered at Jule-Tso in Bhutan at about 4,000 m in June, where it blooms in the brief early-summer window as the alpine slopes thaw.

It is a small, glabrous to farinose perennial herb forming compact tufts or low cushions from a short rootstock. The leaves are crowded in a basal rosette, the blades oblong-spathulate and, as the epithet implies, divided into narrow lobes or pinnatifid-toothed segments, often with a dusting of white or yellowish farina. The flowers are borne singly or in a small umbel on a short scape, occasionally almost sessile among the leaves; the corolla is rose-purple to violet with a contrasting yellow eye, the limb of five obcordate, emarginate lobes spreading from a slender tube. As in the genus the species is heterostylous, and the fruit is a small globose capsule.

Primula tenuiloba is placed in section Minutissimae, the dwarf, cushion-forming Himalayan primulas, characterised by tiny stature, farinose lobed leaves and short-scaped flowers, allying it with P. reptans and P. minutissima. Heterostyly enforces outcrossing by alpine insects. Restricted to a narrow high-altitude band and naturally localised, it is uncommon though not formally assessed; like other obligate alpines its snow-bed habitat is vulnerable to climatic warming.

Author: (G.Watt) Pax · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Richards' Primula (monograph), Smith & Fletcher revision of Asiatic Primula

Primulaceae

Primula whitei

by GP Jürgens

W.W. Sm.

Bh2008 131 G220
Bhutan Pele-La, 3000m April
Bh2008 233 P370
Bhutan Pele-La, 3000m April

Description

Primula whitei W.W.Sm. is an eastern Himalayan primrose of comparatively narrow range; GBIF lists about 74 occurrences from Bhutan, neighbouring India, southern China and Myanmar, with records extending into eastern Nepal. It grows in cool, moist habitats of the upper temperate and subalpine zones, on mossy banks, damp rock ledges, shady cliffs and the margins of forest and scrub, broadly between about 3000 and 4000 m. The plants photographed at Pele-La in Bhutan at 3000 m in April flower very early in the season, as snow recedes, on a high pass typical of the humid, cloud-bathed habitats this species requires.

It is a small, farinose perennial herb forming a compact rosette that overwinters as a resting bud. The leaves are obovate to spathulate, with a crenate to dentate margin tapering to a winged petiole, and the undersurface is often dusted with white or yellowish farina. The flowers are borne singly or in a small umbel on a short scape that elongates only slightly after anthesis, so the blooms nestle close to the foliage. The corolla is salverform with a slender tube and spreading limb of obcordate lobes, violet-blue to lilac with a paler or yellowish eye. The species is heterostylous, and the fruit is a small capsule releasing numerous minute seeds.

Primula whitei belongs to section Petiolares, a Sino-Himalayan group of early-flowering, often farinose primulas centred on the eastern Himalaya whose species delimitation has long challenged taxonomists; it has at times been associated with the Primula bhutanica complex. The genus is classically heterostylous, promoting outcrossing between pin and thrum morphs. With its limited range and reliance on cool, perennially humid microhabitats, the species is regionally restricted and potentially sensitive to warming and to desiccation of the high-altitude niches on which Petiolares primulas depend.

Author: W.W. Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Richards' monograph Primula, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Rosaceae

Prunus campanulata

by GP Jürgens

Maxim.

Nepal 95 437 P759 ergebnis
Nepal Trisuli 2400m October

Description

Prunus campanulata is an East Asian cherry distributed across southern China, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong, with outlying records reaching the central Himalaya in Nepal, India and Vietnam; it is also widely cultivated and naturalised in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Americas, accounting for the broad GBIF footprint of nearly 1,900 occurrences. In its native range it occupies montane broad-leaved and mixed forest, forest margins and ravines, typically between 500 and 2,500 m. The plant photographed near Trisuli in central Nepal at about 2,400 m in October represents the species at the higher end of its Himalayan range, in cool, humid temperate forest on well-drained slopes.

It is a deciduous tree or large shrub reaching 3-8 m, with glabrous, reddish-brown twigs and conspicuous lenticels. The leaves are alternate, ovate to elliptic-oblong, 4-10 cm long, acuminate, with a sharply biserrate margin and glandular petioles. The flowers, borne in fascicles of 2-4 before or with the young leaves, are pendent and bell-shaped (campanulate), 1-2 cm across, with a deep rose-pink to carmine urceolate hypanthium and rounded, notched petals enclosed by a persistent reddish calyx. The fruit is a small ovoid drupe, ripening dark red to purplish-black and enclosing a single stone.

The distinctive nodding, deeply coloured campanulate flowers and early flowering season distinguish P. campanulata within subgenus Cerasus, where it is placed in section Pseudocerasus. Its early bloom makes it an important nectar source for overwintering birds and early insects, and the drupes are bird-dispersed. The species is horticulturally prized as the Taiwan or bellflower cherry and is a parent in numerous ornamental hybrids; its wide naturalisation reflects this cultivation, and it is locally regarded as a minor invasive in parts of the southern hemisphere. It is not considered threatened.

Author: Maxim. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Kew Bulletin monograph of Prunus subgen. Cerasus

Rosaceae

Prunus rufa

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Hook.f.

Bhutan2014 434
Bhutan Pele-La 3000m, May
Bhutan2014 543
Bhutan Pele-La 3000m, May

Description

Prunus rufa, the Himalayan cherry, is a small tree of the eastern Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, Bhutan, northern India, China (south-eastern Tibet) and Myanmar, with GBIF logging 290 occurrences concentrated along this Sino-Himalayan belt. It grows in cool temperate and sub-alpine forest, on open slopes, forest margins and in mixed conifer-broadleaf woodland, broadly between 2700 and 3700 m. The photographed plant from the Pele-La pass in central Bhutan at about 3000 m, flowering in May, illustrates its spring blossoming as new growth emerges in the high passes, where it is valued for its striking bark and early flowers.

The species is a deciduous tree, often 5-12 m tall, conspicuous for its smooth, glossy, coppery to reddish-brown peeling bark, which gives rise to the epithet rufa. Young shoots and leaf undersides are clothed in distinctive rusty (rufous) hairs. The alternate leaves are ovate to elliptic, serrate at the margin, acuminate and short-petiolate. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters, opening with the young foliage; each is pentamerous with five white to pale pink petals, numerous stamens and a single carpel seated in a cupular hypanthium. The fruit is a small ovoid drupe, ripening reddish, with a thin flesh surrounding a single hard stone (endocarp).

Described by Wallich ex Hooker, the species belongs to genus Prunus subgenus Cerasus (the true cherries), within Rosaceae subfamily Amygdaloideae. Its rusty indumentum and burnished bark are diagnostic and make it a notable ornamental, cultivated in temperate gardens for its bark and spring flower. The drupes provide food for birds and mammals, aiding seed dispersal. With a broad Himalayan range it is not globally threatened, though high-elevation forest fragmentation and logging may locally reduce populations.

Author: Wall. ex Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Plant Hunter's Guide to Asian Prunus (Cerasus monograph)

Asteraceae

Pseudognaphalium affine 

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Anderb.

Nepal 2001 436 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Gunda 1850m, May

Description

Pseudognaphalium affine is a widespread woolly cudweed of East Asia and the Indo-Himalaya, ranging across China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Himalaya (Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan), Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, and now naturalised more widely (with records as far afield as Argentina and Georgia); its very large dataset of over 7400 georeferenced occurrences confirms its abundance and weedy success. It grows on open grassy slopes, field margins, fallow ground, roadsides and other disturbed sites from the lowlands to the mid-montane belt, broadly from near sea level to about 2500 m. The plant recorded near Gunda in Gorkha, Nepal, at 1850 m in May is typical of such open, sunny, anthropogenic habitats.

It is an annual or biennial herb with erect, simple or branched stems clothed, like the foliage, in dense white-woolly (arachnoid) tomentum. The leaves are alternate, oblanceolate to spathulate, sessile and somewhat decurrent, grey-green and persistently woolly on both surfaces. The numerous small, discoid capitula are aggregated into dense terminal corymbs; each head is enclosed by several rows of pale yellow to straw-coloured, scarious involucral bracts, the florets all tubular, the outer female and filiform, the inner bisexual. The fruit is a tiny oblong cypsela bearing a pappus of slender, basally connate bristles aiding wind dispersal.

Formerly placed in Gnaphalium, this species was transferred to Pseudognaphalium on the basis of capitulum and pappus characters within tribe Gnaphalieae. It is used in East Asian cuisine and folk medicine and is a familiar ruderal weed; its broad ecological tolerance and prolific seed make it abundant and entirely unthreatened.

Author: (D.Don) Anderb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Anderberg's monograph of the Gnaphalieae

Caryophyllaceae

Pseudostellaria himalaica

by G & P Jürgens

(Franch.) Pax

BhutanPG2011 117
Bhutan Chogham, 3450m June
Bh2008 38 G66
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3000m April
Sikkim 2006 79 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kalipokkri 3100m, May

Description

Pseudostellaria himalaica (Franch.) Pax is a small woodland perennial of the Himalaya and adjacent ranges, distributed through Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and south-western China, with a comparatively modest GBIF record of about 118 occurrences reflecting its inconspicuous habit. It grows in cool, shaded, humus-rich conditions: the floor of temperate broadleaf and conifer forest, mossy banks, Rhododendron understorey and damp rocky slopes. The illustrated material spans three localities and seasons, from Chogham in Bhutan at 3450 m in June and Dochu-La at 3000 m in April to Kalipokkri in West Bengal, India, at 3100 m in May, indicating a flowering period extending through spring and early summer in the temperate to lower subalpine zone.

The plant is a delicate, glabrous to sparsely hairy perennial arising from slender, fusiform to tuberous-thickened roots. The stems are weak, slender and ascending, bearing opposite, sessile to shortly petiolate, ovate to lanceolate leaves with entire margins. The flowers are of two kinds in the manner typical of Pseudostellaria: showy, chasmogamous flowers borne in the upper axils or terminally, with five free white petals (often bifid or notched) somewhat exceeding the five lanceolate sepals, ten stamens and a three-styled ovary; and inconspicuous, often petal-less cleistogamous flowers produced lower on the plant that self-fertilise. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing by valves to release few seeds.

This taxon has frequently been treated as Pseudostellaria heterantha var. himalaica, reflecting its close affinity with the variable P. heterantha aggregate, and authors differ on whether to recognise it at species or varietal rank, as the source page name indicates. The combination of showy outcrossing flowers with reliably self-pollinating cleistogamous ones is a reproductive strategy that buffers seed-set in the short, cool growing season of shaded montane forest. The species is widespread if seldom abundant, and no specific conservation threat is recorded, though it depends on intact forest understorey.

Author: (Franch.) Pax · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Caryophyllaceae of the Himalaya (Majumdar)

Malvaceae

Pterygota alata

by G & P Jürgens

(Roxb.) R.Br.

Sikkim 2006 285 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1650m, May
Sikkim 2006 284 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 283 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Chaana 1650m, May

Description

Pterygota alata is a large deciduous tree of tropical and subtropical Asia, distributed from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal eastward through Myanmar, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines and southern China, with cultivated records elsewhere; GBIF lists some 350 occurrences, a number inflated by its frequent planting as an avenue and shade tree. It grows in lowland and lower-montane evergreen and semi-evergreen forest, often along valley bottoms on deep moist soils. The photographed individual was recorded in the West Bengal hills at Chaana around 1650 m in May, near the upper margin at which this tropical tree persists in the eastern Himalayan foothills.

It is a tall tree with a straight bole and spreading crown, the bark grey and rather smooth, often buttressed at the base. The leaves are alternate, large, broadly ovate to orbicular with a cordate base and abruptly acuminate apex, palmately veined and clustered toward the branch tips. The flowers are borne in axillary panicles, lacking a corolla, with a coloured, campanulate, lobed calyx. The most distinctive feature is the fruit, a cluster of large, woody, globose follicles that split to release numerous broadly winged seeds adapted for wind dispersal, the wing giving the genus its name.

Formerly placed in Sterculiaceae, Pterygota is now treated within an expanded Malvaceae (subfamily Sterculioideae), as reflected in the family given here. The winged seed and apetalous flowers ally it with Sterculia and Firmiana. Valued for its light timber and as an ornamental, P. alata is not considered globally threatened, although natural lowland-forest populations are locally reduced by logging.

Author: (Roxb.) R.Br. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 12, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Kostermans revision of Asian Sterculiaceae