Tag:

Sikkim

Flowers of Sikkim — 350 species from the Sikkim Himalaya in northeast India, a compact yet botanically extraordinary region that climbs from subtropical valleys to the alpine zone beneath Kangchenjunga. Sikkim is a classic centre of Himalayan plant diversity, celebrated for its rhododendrons, primulas, orchids and gentians. Each entry provides a botanical description, distribution, habitat and flowering season with the original field photograph.

Primulaceae

Primula hookeri

by G & P Jürgens

G.Watt

Sikkim 2006 387 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 3600m, May

Description

Primula hookeri is a diminutive alpine primrose of the eastern Himalaya, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar. It is a plant of high alpine meadows, mossy banks, rhododendron scrub margins and moist turf near the treeline and above, typically between about 3300 and 4500 m. The photographed plant from Kishong in West Bengal, India, at around 3600 m and flowering in May, is characteristic of its early-season blooming soon after snowmelt in cool, humid, high-montane meadow where moisture from melting snow and abundant atmospheric humidity sustain the small rosettes.

The species is a small, tufted perennial forming neat basal rosettes. The leaves are obovate to spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, crenate to denticulate, glabrous or nearly so, and lack the conspicuous farina of many Himalayan primulas. The flowers are typically solitary or few on short scapes, sometimes nearly sessile among the leaves; the corolla is white to pale lilac with a yellow eye, salverform, with an elongated tube and spreading, notched lobes. The fruit is a small capsule shorter than or about equalling the persistent calyx, releasing numerous minute seeds.

The epithet honours Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, whose mid-nineteenth-century Sikkim explorations transformed knowledge of Himalayan Primula. The species belongs to the small-flowered section Minutissimae (the dwarf alpine primulas), a group of cushion- and turf-forming high-elevation specialists. Like many narrowly montane primulas it is heterostylous, promoting outcrossing. Restricted to fragile high-alpine habitats, such species are potentially sensitive to grazing and warming-induced upslope vegetation shifts, though P. hookeri is not presently regarded as threatened.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula kingii

by GP Jürgens

G.Watt 

BhutanPG2011 727 01 01
Bhutan Pele-La, 2750m July

Description

Primula kingii is an Eastern Himalayan endemic of restricted range, recorded from Bhutan, north-eastern India (Sikkim and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh) and southern Xizang (China), with some 57 georeferenced occurrences documented in GBIF. It is a plant of cool, perennially moist situations, favouring boggy alpine and subalpine meadows, seepage slopes, streamsides and damp turf saturated through the monsoon. The species ascends from the upper forest margin into the alpine zone; the photographed material from the Pele-La pass in central Bhutan at about 2750 m in July, flowering near the low end of its altitudinal span, illustrates its occupation of humid passes between drainage systems.

P. kingii is a small, tufted, glabrous perennial herb arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves form a basal rosette, oblanceolate to spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, the blade with a finely toothed or subentire margin and lacking the conspicuous farina seen in many congeners. The slender, erect scape bears a one-sided (secund), few-flowered terminal umbel of nodding flowers subtended by small bracts. The calyx is tubular-campanulate and dark, often blackish-purple; the corolla is deep blackish-crimson to maroon, with a narrow tube, a contracted throat and short, spreading or reflexed lobes. The fruit is a small capsule shorter than or about equalling the persistent calyx, releasing numerous minute seeds.

Within Primula the species is placed in the section Amethystina, a group of dark-flowered, nodding-blossomed Sino-Himalayan primroses centred on the eastern ranges. Its sombre maroon corolla and secund inflorescence distinguish it from associated species. As a narrowly distributed alpine bog specialist tied to high-elevation wetland microhabitats, it is potentially sensitive to hydrological change, grazing pressure and shifts in snowmelt timing, though no formal IUCN assessment defines its present status.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula primulina

by GP Jürgens

(Spreng.) Hara

BhutanPG2011 625 01
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Shashuna-Dem-Tso, 3900m June
Sikkim2003 327 P464
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4200m August

Description

Primula primulina is a dwarf alpine primrose of the Himalayan high country, distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and southern China, with several hundred georeferenced occurrences recorded in GBIF. It is a cushion- or mat-forming species of the upper alpine and nival zones, growing on open stony slopes, moist alpine turf, rock ledges and the margins of high-elevation tarns kept moist by late snowmelt. The material from the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Shashuna-Dem-Tso in Bhutan (about 3900 m, June) and from Saniti Lake in Sikkim (4200 m, August) reflects its association with glacial lake basins and its summer flowering across the monsoon months.

P. primulina is a diminutive, densely tufted perennial forming low rosettes or compact cushions from a slender branching rootstock. The leaves are small, oblanceolate to spathulate, often densely crowded, with an entire or finely toothed margin and frequently bearing farina, the rosettes sometimes marcescent at the base. The flowers are borne singly or few together on very short scapes scarcely exceeding the foliage, giving an almost sessile appearance. The corolla is salverform with a slender tube and spreading, notched lobes, typically rose-purple to pink with a paler or yellowish eye; the calyx is tubular and lobed. The fruit is a small capsule enclosed by or barely exceeding the persistent calyx.

The species is placed in Primula section Minutissimae, the group of minute, cushion-forming Sino-Himalayan primroses to which P. primulina lends its name as a characteristic member. Long-established synonymy reflects its complex nomenclatural history under several earlier basionyms. As a specialist of high-altitude snowbed and lakeshore microhabitats, it is closely tied to persistent snow cover and is therefore among the alpine taxa most likely to be affected by warming-driven contraction of suitable habitat, though it currently carries no formal conservation assessment.

Author: (Spreng.) Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula pulchra

by GP Jürgens

G.Watt

Sikkim2004 142 G244
Sikkim/India Singalila 3800m April

Description

Primula pulchra is an eastern Himalayan species distributed across Nepal, India, Bhutan, southern China (Xizang, Yunnan) and northern Myanmar, with GBIF documenting some 39 georeferenced occurrences across this comparatively narrow range. It is a plant of the upper temperate and subalpine zones, typically growing between about 3000 and 4300 m on moist, humus-rich slopes, in open Rhododendron scrub, along stream margins and on grazed alpine meadows that remain snow-covered for much of the winter. The photographed material from the Singalila Ridge on the Sikkim–West Bengal border at roughly 3800 m, flowering in April, is characteristic: the species is among the earliest primulas to bloom as the snowmelt recedes.

It is a small, rosette-forming perennial arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves are obovate to oblong-spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, the margin crenate-dentate, and the lower surface typically clad in a pale to yellowish farina. The scape carries a one- to few-flowered umbel subtended by short bracts. Flowers are heterostylous and showy, the corolla rose-purple to violet with a pale or yellow eye, the lobes obcordate and emarginate; the calyx is campanulate and often farinose. The fruit is a small capsule about equalling the persistent calyx, releasing numerous angular seeds.

Primula pulchra belongs to section Petiolares, a large, taxonomically intricate group of Sino-Himalayan primulas characterised by early flowering and resting-bud overwintering. Within it the species is allied to P. calderiana and P. boothii, from which it is separated by leaf shape, farina distribution and corolla detail; intergradation has complicated its delimitation. As a snow-bed and meadow specialist it is sensitive to grazing and to shifts in snow-lie driven by climate warming, though its presence in several protected high-altitude areas affords some security.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Smith & Fletcher monograph of the genus Primula, Richards 'Primula' (2003)

Primulaceae

Primula scapigera

by GP Jürgens

Craib

Sikkim2004 75 P131
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2600m April
Sikkim2004 313 G563
Sikkim/India Kokchurong 3600m May
Sikkim2004 314 G564
Sikkim/India Kokchurong 3600m May

Description

Primula scapigera is an eastern Himalayan primrose recorded from northern India (Sikkim, West Bengal), Nepal, Bhutan and adjacent China, with 67 GBIF occurrences also reflecting cultivated material reaching Japan. It grows in cool, humid montane and subalpine habitats, on mossy banks, in open Rhododendron and conifer forest and along streamsides, generally between 2500 and 3800 m. The illustrated plants were collected at Bersay in the Sikkim/West Bengal borderland at 2600 m in April and at Kokchurong in Sikkim at 3600 m in May, spanning the species' spring to early-summer flowering across its altitudinal range.

It is a small perennial herb forming neat rosettes of obovate to spathulate leaves that are crenate to denticulate at the margin, narrowed to a winged petiole and often coated beneath, like the scape and calyx, with pale farina. The slender erect scape bears a terminal umbel of a few to several flowers. The corolla is rose-pink to purplish with a contrasting yellow or whitish eye, the limb divided into five obcordate, notched lobes; the plants are heterostylous, producing pin and thrum morphs. The fruit is a small capsule shorter than or equalling the persistent calyx.

The species is placed in Primula section Petiolares, a largely Sino-Himalayan group of farinose, rosette-forming primroses centred on the eastern Himalaya and Hengduan ranges. Within the section it is allied to P. petiolaris and P. gracilipes, from which it is separated by its scapose inflorescence and leaf characters. Like its congeners it depends on insect pollination facilitated by its distyly, and its restricted high-rainfall habitat makes it sensitive to disturbance and warming. Though not formally assessed, it remains a localised eastern Himalayan endemic of conservation interest.

Author: Craib · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Richards: Primula

Primulaceae

Primula sikkimensis

by GP Jürgens

Hook.

Sikkim2011 246
Sikkim Yumthang 3700m, June
Sikkim2011 65
Sikkim Yumthang 3700m, June
BhutanPG2011 810 01 01 scaled
Bhutan / also included: Ligularia fischeri
Bh09 34 P64
Bhutan
Sikkim2003 231 P320
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m 08.2003

Description

Primula sikkimensis, the Sikkim cowslip, is a robust perennial of the Himalaya and the eastern Tibetan plateau, recorded from China, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar, with 1820 occurrences in GBIF making it one of the better-documented Himalayan primulas. It is a plant of wet alpine habitats: marshy meadows, stream sides, bog margins and damp turf, typically between 3000 and 4500 m, often forming extensive colonies in seepage zones. The Sikkim collections illustrated, from Yumthang at 3700 m in June and Dzongri at 4100 m in August, exemplify its association with permanently moist, cold ground; the caption also notes Ligularia fischeri co-occurring in the same habitat.

The plant arises from a stout rhizome and produces a basal rosette of oblong to oblanceolate leaves, the blades crenate-toothed and tapering to a winged petiole, mealy-farinose at least beneath when young. The stout, erect scape, often 30-90 cm tall, bears a terminal umbel of several to many nodding, fragrant flowers. The corolla is funnelform with a slender tube and spreading limb, pale to sulphur-yellow, the throat dusted with farina; the species is heterostylous, with distinct pin and thrum morphs. The fruit is a cylindrical capsule, somewhat longer than the persistent calyx, releasing numerous small seeds.

Primula (Primulaceae) reaches its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalaya; P. sikkimensis is the type of section Sikkimensis, a group of moisture-loving, yellow- to whitish-flowered primulas. Its heterostyly enforces outcrossing, and its scent and form suit pollination by long-tongued insects. Widespread and locally abundant, it is not of conservation concern, but as a wetland specialist it is sensitive to drainage, grazing pressure and the desiccation of alpine mires under a warming climate.

Author: Hook. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Primula (A Monograph)

Primulaceae

Primula stirtoniana

by G & P Jürgens

G.Watt

Nepal 99 815 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4300m, July
Nepal 99 814 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4300m, July

Description

Primula stirtoniana is a high-altitude perennial herb distributed across the Himalayas from western Nepal through northeast India (Sikkim, Uttarakhand) to Bhutan and southern China (Xizang). The species inhabits alpine meadows, moist rocky ledges, and scree slopes at elevations of 3,600–4,800 m, where it grows in association with other alpine cushion plants and rosette-forming herbs. It has been recorded from Baga-La-Phedi in western Nepal at 4,300 m, flowering in July during the peak monsoon period when moisture availability is highest.
The plant forms compact rosettes arising from a short, stout rootstock. The leaves are spatulate to obovate, 2–6 cm long, with a crenate to dentate margin, more or less farinose beneath with a whitish or yellowish farina. The scape is erect, 5–15 cm tall, bearing a terminal umbel of 3–10 flowers. The calyx is campanulate, often farinose, with lanceolate lobes. The corolla is purple to violet-blue, with a flat, spreading limb 10–15 mm in diameter; the tube is cylindrical, exceeding the calyx. The species is heterostylous, producing both pin and thrum flowers. The capsule is globose to ovoid, slightly exceeding the calyx at maturity.
Primula stirtoniana belongs to section Crystallophlomis, a group characterised by prominent leaf farina, and is allied to P. macrophylla and related species. It was described by George Watt in the late nineteenth century and has been relatively infrequently collected. With approximately 26 occurrence records in GBIF, it remains a poorly documented species whose population status across its range is unclear. Alpine Primula species are considered sensitive indicators of climate change, and upward range shifts or phenological mismatches with pollinators may pose long-term threats to such narrowly adapted high-altitude taxa.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Richards: Primula (2003), Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2 (2001)

Primulaceae

Primula tsariensis

by G & P Jürgens

W.W.Sm.

Sikkim2011 353
Sikkim, Lada-La 3900m, June

Description

Primula tsariensis is an alpine perennial endemic to the eastern Himalaya, with a distribution centred on the borderlands of Bhutan, southern Xizang (Tibet) and adjacent NE India, and recorded from Sikkim, where the photographed plant was found near the Lada-La pass at about 3,900 m in June. GBIF documents this distribution across Bhutan (BT), China (CN) and India (IN) on the basis of roughly 67 occurrence records. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, frequenting moist turf, scree margins and seepage slopes among dwarf rhododendron, typically between 3,800 and 4,500 m.

The species forms a small rosette-forming herb arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves are oblanceolate to spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, with a crenate to denticulate margin and an efarinose to thinly farinose surface. The slender scape bears a terminal umbel of few flowers; the calyx is tubular-campanulate and divided into narrow lobes, while the corolla is violet to purple-blue with a paler or yellowish eye, the limb of five obcordate, emarginate lobes spreading from a narrow tube. The species is heterostylous, producing pin and thrum forms, and the fruit is a small capsule shorter than or equalling the persistent calyx, dehiscing to release numerous angular seeds.

Primula tsariensis belongs to the section Petiolares, a complex and taxonomically intricate assemblage of Sino-Himalayan primulas distinguished by their farinose tissues and early-spring flowering close to the receding snow. Its narrow range across the Assam Himalaya and southern Tibet makes it a useful biogeographic marker of this high-rainfall sector. Although not formally assessed as threatened, such localised alpine endemics are inherently vulnerable to climate-driven upward shifts of the snowline and to habitat disturbance from grazing.

Author: W.W.Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 15, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, John Richards: Primula (2003)

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus brotherusii

by GP Jürgens

Freyn

Sikkim2011 55
Sikkim Vista-valley 3800m, June
Sikkim2003 300 P429
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4300m August

Description

Ranunculus brotherusii is a widespread alpine buttercup of Central Asia and the Himalaya, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, with additional collections in European herbaria. Its roughly 1756 georeferenced records reflect a common and broadly distributed high-mountain species. It grows in damp alpine meadows, marshy ground, streamsides and snow-flush hollows, typically at about 3000-5000 m. The Sikkim gatherings cited above, from the Vista valley at 3800 m in June and from Saniti Lake at 4300 m in August, are characteristic, the species flowering through the short alpine summer on moist, well-watered turf.

It is a small, tufted perennial herb arising from a fibrous root system, the stems erect to ascending and sparsely appressed-hairy. The basal leaves are long-petiolate with reniform to orbicular blades that are three-lobed or further divided into crenate segments, while the cauline leaves are smaller and more deeply cut, becoming sessile above. The flowers are solitary or few, with five greenish, often pubescent sepals and five glossy yellow obovate petals each bearing a small nectary scale. The numerous stamens surround a globose to ovoid head of carpels, the fruit an aggregate of small glabrous achenes with a short curved or hooked beak.

Ranunculus is a large, cosmopolitan genus particularly diverse in cold temperate and alpine regions, and R. brotherusii belongs to its assemblage of small-flowered Asian alpine buttercups. Like its relatives it contains acrid protoanemonin compounds rendering it unpalatable and toxic to livestock, which favours its persistence on grazed pasture. Pollination is by generalist alpine flies and bees. Its extensive transboundary range and ecological tolerance place it well outside any conservation concern.

Author: Freyn · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Ranunculus of Central Asia monograph

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus microphyllus 

by GP Jürgens

Hand.-Mazz.

Sikkim2011 233
Sikkim Yumthang 3700m, June
Nepal 2001 304 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Lambra Kharka 3200m, May
Sikkim 2006 110 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 411 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Sandakphu 3200m, May

Description

Ranunculus microphyllus is a Sino-Himalayan alpine buttercup whose core GBIF range (c. 399 occurrences) lies in China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, with scattered records elsewhere reflecting cultivated or misdetermined material. It grows in open alpine turf, moist meadows, snowmelt flushes, damp rock ledges and stream banks, typically between about 3000 and 4200 m. The cited localities—Yumthang in Sikkim at 3700 m in June, Lambra Kharka in the Nepalese Gorkha at 3200 m, and Sandakphu in West Bengal at 3200 m, both in May—illustrate its spring-to-early-summer flowering across moist, cool, high-elevation grasslands and seepage of the central and eastern Himalaya.

It is a small, tufted perennial herb, the stems low and ascending, often somewhat hairy, arising from a fibrous-rooted base. As the epithet implies the leaves are small; the basal leaves are petiolate and shallowly to deeply three-lobed or crenate, while the stem leaves are reduced and more dissected. The flowers are solitary or few, with the typical buttercup plan: five green sepals, five glossy bright-yellow petals each with a basal nectary, and numerous spirally arranged stamens and free carpels. The fruit is a globose head of small, slightly beaked achenes.

Described by Handel-Mazzetti, R. microphyllus belongs to the large, taxonomically intricate genus Ranunculus, in which the small-leaved Himalayan alpines form a closely related and often confused complex. It is locally common and not of conservation concern, though confined to moist high-altitude habitats sensitive to warming. Ecologically it is characteristic of snowmelt-fed alpine meadows, its open flowers offering accessible nectar and pollen to flies and other high-altitude insects.

Author: Hand.-Mazz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Tamura monograph of Ranunculaceae