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.

Asteraceae

Saussurea tridactyla

by GP Jürgens

Sch.Bip. ex Hook.f.

BhutanPG2011 363
Bhutan Jule-Tso 4250m, June
Sikkim2003 296 P415
Sikkim above Saniti-Lake 4400m August
Sikkim2003 294 P408
Sikkim above Saniti-Lake 4400m August

Description

Saussurea tridactyla Sch.Bip. ex Hook.f. is a high-alpine composite of the eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from Nepal, China, India and Bhutan across some 234 occurrences. It belongs to the celebrated group of woolly snowball saussureas of the uppermost mountain zone, growing on open screes, moraine, rocky alpine turf and stony slopes near the snowline, generally between about 4000 and 5000 m. The plants documented at Jule-Tso in Bhutan around 4250 m in June and above Saniti-Lake in Sikkim at about 4400 m in August illustrate its occurrence at the extreme upper limit of vascular plant life, in a harsh environment of strong insolation, wind and cold.

The species forms a low, compact perennial in which the stem and crowded upper leaves and capitula are enveloped in dense, long, white or greyish woolly hairs, producing the characteristic cottony cushion that insulates the developing flowers from cold and ultraviolet radiation. The basal and lower leaves are narrow and toothed to lobed, and the heads are aggregated into a congested terminal cluster. Each capitulum is discoid, with purplish tubular florets enclosed by woolly-margined involucral bracts; the achenes are topped by a pappus of feathery and shorter outer bristles aiding wind dispersal.

Saussurea (tribe Cardueae) is a large Asian genus, and the woolly high-alpine species such as S. tridactyla represent a striking convergent adaptation to extreme altitude, the dense indumentum functioning as a glasshouse-like protection for the inflorescence. With a restricted high-elevation range, the species is naturally localised; such alpine snowball saussureas are increasingly of conservation concern owing to harvesting of related species for medicine and to climate-driven contraction of their cold habitats, making them important sentinels of Himalayan alpine change.

Author: Sch.Bip. ex Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Lipschitz monograph of the genus Saussurea

Asteraceae

Saussurea uniflora

by GP Jürgens

(DC.) Wall. ex Sch.Bip.

Sikkim2003 435 P605
Sikkim Chopta Valley 4000m August
Sikkim2003 436 P606
Sikkim Chopta Valley 4000m August

Description

Saussurea uniflora is a high-alpine thistle-relative of the eastern Himalaya, recorded in GBIF from Nepal, India, China, Bhutan and Japan across 156 occurrences. It is a plant of the upper alpine zone, occupying moist meadows, rocky slopes, screes and seepage flushes generally between 3800 and 4800 m. The photographed individual was found in Sikkim's Chopta Valley at about 4000 m in August, when the brief post-monsoon flowering peak coincides with maximum snow-melt moisture in these exposed habitats.

It is a low, tufted perennial herb arising from a stout, often woody caudex topping a thick taproot, the stem very short or almost absent so that the plant appears acaulescent. The leaves are crowded in a basal rosette, oblanceolate to elliptic, narrowed to a winged petiole, with entire or denticulate margins and a thin floccose-arachnoid indumentum. As the epithet uniflora implies, the plant typically bears a single (or few) large terminal capitulum, the involucre of imbricate, often purple-tinged phyllaries enclosing numerous purple, tubular disc florets; there are no ray florets. The fruit is a glabrous cypsela crowned by a double pappus of outer short bristles and inner plumose hairs.

Saussurea (Asteraceae, tribe Cardueae) is a vast genus centred on the mountains of Asia, many species being cushion- or rosette-forming cold-zone specialists. The reduced stem and condensed solitary head are adaptations to the short alpine growing season and high insolation, with pollination chiefly by bumblebees and flies. Although not formally evaluated for conservation, its restricted high-elevation niche makes it potentially sensitive to upward shifts in vegetation belts driven by warming.

Author: (DC.) Wall. ex Sch.Bip. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Lipschitz Monograph of the Genus Saussurea

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga aristulata

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f. & Thomson

Sikkim2003 282 P388
Sikkim Saint-Lake August

Description

Saxifraga aristulata Hook.f. & Thomson is a cushion-forming alpine saxifrage of the high Himalaya, recorded from China, Nepal, India and Bhutan; the GBIF dataset of 391 occurrences reflects its frequent presence in the alpine zone of the central and eastern ranges. It grows on damp rock ledges, gravelly slopes, moist alpine turf and stream banks at high elevation, broadly between 3500 and 5000 m. The photographed plant from a high lake basin in Sikkim, flowering in August, exemplifies its late-monsoon anthesis in cool, well-drained alpine habitats among rocks and short turf, forming low mats studded with yellow flowers near the snow line.

The species is a small, mat- or cushion-forming perennial herb with slender, prostrate to ascending, leafy stems forming dense low tufts. The leaves are small, alternate to crowded, linear to oblong or narrowly oblanceolate, often ciliate-margined and tipped with a fine bristle or awn — the aristate apex giving the epithet aristulata. The flowers are solitary or few at the stem tips, with five free, spreading, obovate petals that are yellow, sometimes orange- or red-dotted toward the base; the calyx is five-lobed and the ten stamens surround a bicarpellate, partly inferior ovary with two divergent styles. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the persistent styles to release numerous small seeds.

Saxifraga aristulata belongs to the large, predominantly yellow-flowered Himalayan section Ciliatae (the Hirculus alliance), centred on the Sino-Himalaya and characterised by cushion or mat habits and ciliate, awn-tipped leaves. The complex is taxonomically intricate, with numerous closely allied high-alpine microspecies. As a widespread, tolerant alpine cushion plant it is of no conservation concern, though as a high-elevation specialist it is potentially sensitive to warming and upslope range contraction; it has occasional appeal among alpine-plant enthusiasts.

Author: Hook. f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Pan & Gornall — Saxifraga of the Sino-Himalaya

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga brunonis

by GP Jürgens

Ser.

Sikkim2003 222 P308
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 269 P371
Sikkim Dzongri 4200m August
Sikkim2003 271 P373
Sikkim Dzongri 4200m August

Description

Saxifraga brunonis is a high-alpine cushion-forming herb of the Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan ranges. GBIF records confirm its distribution through Nepal, India, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan, with around 332 occurrences concentrated in the eastern Himalayan high mountains. It is a plant of moist rock ledges, cliff crevices, mossy banks and stable scree at the upper limits of the alpine zone, often where seepage keeps the substrate cool and damp through the growing season. The photographed material from Dzongri in Sikkim at 3900–4200 m, collected in August, is characteristic of its preferred habitat in the summer-monsoon-watered alpine belt, where it flowers at the height of the brief growing season.

It forms low, spreading mats by means of slender, reddish, filiform stolons that root at the nodes to give rise to new rosettes. The leaves are small, oblong to spathulate, entire, fleshy and ciliate-margined, crowded into dense basal rosettes. The flowering stems are short and few-flowered, bearing bright yellow flowers with five free, spreading petals, ten stamens and a half-inferior to nearly superior bicarpellate ovary. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

Within the large and taxonomically complex genus Saxifraga, S. brunonis is placed in section Ciliatae, a predominantly Sino-Himalayan group of stoloniferous and rosette-forming alpines. Its runner-mediated clonal spread is an effective strategy for colonising unstable rock surfaces, while seed reproduction allows dispersal to fresh sites. As a strictly high-altitude endemic of the central and eastern Himalaya, the species is potentially sensitive to the upward shift of alpine vegetation belts driven by climate warming.

Author: Ser. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Saxifragaceae), Saxifrages of the World (Webb & Gornall)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga cordigera

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f. & Thomson

Sikkim2003 287 P396 ergebnis
Sikkim Samiti-Lake 2800m, August

Description

Saxifraga cordigera is an alpine perennial endemic to the eastern Himalaya, with GBIF documenting around 89 occurrences spanning Nepal, India, Bhutan and adjacent China. It is a plant of cool, humid high-elevation environments, growing on moist rocky slopes, ledges, banks and the margins of subalpine to alpine meadows where it benefits from constant atmospheric moisture and snowmelt seepage. The plant illustrated near Samiti Lake in Sikkim at about 2800 m in August was recorded during the monsoon flowering period, when these eastern Himalayan slopes are saturated and the saxifrages reach their peak.

It is a tufted to shortly stoloniferous herb forming loose rosettes of leaves that are characteristically cordate to reniform at the base, as the epithet implies, with crenate or dentate margins, somewhat fleshy texture and slender petioles. The flowering stems are erect and glandular-hairy, bearing few-flowered cymose inflorescences. The flowers are pentamerous with five spreading petals that are yellow, frequently spotted or flushed with orange or red, ten stamens, and a bicarpellate, semi-inferior ovary. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the persistent styles to release numerous minute seeds.

The species belongs to the large and taxonomically complex genus Saxifraga, here placed in the yellow-flowered alliance traditionally referred to section Hirculus, a predominantly Sino-Himalayan radiation of moisture-loving alpine herbs. Such species are valuable indicators of intact high-altitude wetland and seepage habitats. While not formally evaluated for conservation status and locally frequent within its range, its dependence on cool, perennially moist niches makes it potentially vulnerable to warming and the desiccation of alpine seeps.

Author: Hook. f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Hooker Flora of British India, Webb & Gornall A Manual of Saxifrages

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga engleriana

by G & P Jürgens

Harry Sm.

Sikkim2003 201 G281 ergebnis
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August

Description

Saxifraga engleriana is a high-alpine perennial of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent southwestern China, recorded from China, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar; its roughly 51 GBIF occurrences are concentrated in the alpine zone of the Sino-Himalayan ranges. It is a plant of cool, humid altitudes, as exemplified by the collection above Dzongri in Sikkim at about 3900 m in August, when flowering coincides with the late-monsoon growing season. It grows in moist alpine turf, on rock ledges and in cliff crevices kept damp by snowmelt and cloud condensation, within the cushion-plant and dwarf-herb communities of the subnival belt.

The plant forms low, tufted to loosely matted growth from a branched caudex, the slender stems bearing small, somewhat fleshy leaves that may carry lime-secreting chalk glands at their margins, a trait of the encrusted silver saxifrages. The glandular-hairy flowering stems carry few-flowered cymes of small flowers with five free, usually white to pale petals, five sepals, ten stamens and a bicarpellate, semi-inferior ovary. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between persistent styles to release numerous minute seeds.

Saxifraga is a large, predominantly arctic-alpine genus whose Himalayan species are partitioned among sections distinguished by leaf encrustation and indumentum; S. engleriana belongs among the lime-encrusted alpines centred on the high mountains of central Asia. As a narrowly distributed orophyte of a cold, fragmenting habitat, it is potentially sensitive to climate-driven upslope contraction of the alpine zone, though its remoteness affords protection from direct disturbance.

Author: Harry Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Saxifrages of the World (Webb & Gornall)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga moorcroftiana

by GP Jürgens

(Ser.) Wall. & Sternb.

Sikkim2003 218 P303
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August
Sikkim2003 219 G304
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August

Description

Saxifraga moorcroftiana is a Himalayan saxifrage distributed through Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan and China, with about 281 georeferenced records confirming a wide presence across the high ranges. It is a plant of open, rocky alpine and subalpine ground — stony slopes, cliff ledges, moraine and gravelly meadows — in the zone above and around treeline. The illustrated material from Dzongri in Sikkim, at about 3900 m and flowering in August, reflects the late-summer flowering typical of the species in the moist eastern Himalayan alpine belt, where it grows among rocks kept moist by snow-melt.

The plant is a perennial herb forming tufts or low cushions from a branched rootstock, with rosettes of small, more or less fleshy, oblong to spathulate leaves that may be glandular-hairy and sometimes lime-encrusted along the margins. The flowering stems are erect, often reddish and glandular, bearing a few-flowered cyme or panicle. The flowers are small, with five free sepals, five spreading petals that are pale yellow to greenish-yellow, frequently spotted or flushed with red or orange, and ten stamens. The gynoecium consists of two largely fused carpels, ripening into a bilobed capsule that opens between the beaks to shed numerous minute seeds.

Saxifraga is a large, predominantly arctic-alpine genus, richly developed in the Sino-Himalayan mountains where numerous species occupy specialised rock and screen habitats. The combination is attributed to Wallich and Sternberg, the latter author of an early monograph of the genus. As a widespread component of Himalayan alpine vegetation, S. moorcroftiana is not regarded as threatened, though, like other high-mountain saxifrages, its narrow ecological requirements render local populations sensitive to grazing and to the upward shift of climatic zones.

Author: (Ser.) Wall. & Sternb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China (Saxifragaceae), Webb & Gornall: Saxifrages of Europe and monographic treatments of Saxifraga

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga parnassifolia

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Bhutan2012 49
Bhutan Chele-La 3800m, September
Bhutan2015 485
Bhutan Chele-La 3800m, September
Bhutan2015 486
Bhutan, Pele-La 3000m, October
Nepal 95 129 P221 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3200m October

Description

Saxifraga parnassifolia is a Himalayan saxifrage distributed from Nepal through Sikkim and the adjoining Indian hills into Bhutan and southern Tibet (China), with GBIF recording 208 occurrences across NP, CN, IN and BT. It grows on damp rock ledges, mossy banks, cliff faces and shaded humid slopes in the upper temperate to subalpine zone, broadly between about 3000 and 4000 m. The photographed populations were documented in Bhutan at Chele-La (3800 m, September) and Pele-La (3000 m, October) and in Nepal south of the Rupien La (3200 m, October), reflecting a notably late, autumn flowering period for the species.

The plant is a perennial herb forming small tufts from a short rootstock. As the epithet parnassifolia suggests, its basal leaves resemble those of Parnassia: they are ovate to cordate, long-petiolate, entire or slightly toothed, and somewhat fleshy, clustered in a rosette. The flowering stems are erect and bear a lax, few- to several-flowered cyme. Each flower has five free sepals, five spreading white to greenish or pinkish petals, ten stamens, and a half-inferior ovary of two carpels united below and produced into two divergent styles. The fruit is a two-beaked capsule splitting between the styles to release numerous minute seeds.

Within the large genus Saxifraga, the species is placed in section Mesogyne/Cymbalaria allies of the broad-leaved Himalayan rosette saxifrages, distinguished by its Parnassia-like foliage and autumnal anthesis. As a chasmophyte of moist montane rock it indicates humid, sheltered microhabitats. It is locally frequent across its Himalayan range and is not considered threatened, though its cliff and ledge habitats are naturally restricted.

Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Saxifragaceae)

Saxifragaceae

Saxifraga stella-aurea

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Sikkim2003 102 P139 ergebnis
Sikkim Choka 2900m, August
Sikkim2003 147 P198 ergebnis
Sikkim Choka 2900m, August

Description

Saxifraga stella-aurea is a Sino-Himalayan alpine herb distributed through China, India, Nepal and Bhutan, with scattered ex situ records in Europe. It inhabits moist alpine meadows, seepage slopes, streamsides and rock crevices, typically between about 2700 and 4500 m. The illustrated plant from Choka in Sikkim at roughly 2900 m, flowering in August at the height of the post-monsoon season, reflects its affinity for cool, humid, well-drained sites where snowmelt and persistent moisture sustain the dense, cushion-forming growth characteristic of high-elevation saxifrages.

The species is a small, tufted perennial forming low rosettes or loose mats from a short rhizomatous base. The basal and cauline leaves are spathulate to oblanceolate, entire or obscurely toothed, somewhat fleshy and often ciliate at the margins. The flowering stems are slender and few-leaved, bearing solitary or few yellow flowers. The five petals are obovate to oblong and typically marked with orange or reddish dots, surrounding a hypanthium with ten stamens and a bicarpellate ovary; the fruit is a small capsule dehiscing between the two divergent styles, releasing numerous minute seeds.

The epithet stella-aurea, golden star, refers to the bright stellate yellow corolla. The taxon falls within the large and taxonomically complex section Hirculus, a predominantly Sino-Himalayan alpine group whose species are notoriously difficult to delimit and frequently confused. Like many high-montane Saxifraga, it is an indicator of intact alpine seepage habitats; while not presently threatened given its wide distribution, such communities are sensitive to grazing intensification and climate-driven shifts in snowmelt regimes.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Saxifrages of the World (Webb & Gornall)

Schisandraceae

Schisandra grandiflora

by GP Jürgens

(Wall.) Hook.f. & Thomson

Sikkim2011 189
Sikkim Lachung 2800m, June
Bh09 249 G417
Bhutan Pele-La, 3100m June
Sikkim 2006 7 ergebnis
India West-Bengal Maneybhajang 2000m, May

Description

Schisandra grandiflora (Wall.) Hook.f. & Thomson is a deciduous, woody climber of the eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. It is a plant of cool, humid temperate forest, growing in mixed broad-leaved and conifer woodland, along forest margins and ravines, where it scrambles over shrubs and into the canopy, generally between about 2,000 and 3,500 m. The cited collections span Lachung in Sikkim at 2,800 m and Pele-La in Bhutan at 3,100 m in June, and Maneybhajang in West Bengal at 2,000 m in May, illustrating its broad occurrence across the moist temperate forest belt of the eastern Himalayan arc.

The plant is a glabrous, twining liana with slender woody stems and alternate, simple leaves that are elliptic to obovate, with serrulate margins and an acuminate apex, borne on reddish petioles. As in all Schisandraceae the flowers are unisexual, the species being dioecious or monoecious; they are solitary and pendulous on slender pedicels, comparatively large for the genus (hence grandiflora), with several white to creamy or pink-tinged perianth segments not differentiated into sepals and petals. The numerous free carpels of the female flower, borne on an elongating receptacle, ripen into a pendent, spike-like aggregate of red, fleshy berries.

Schisandraceae, together with the related Illiciaceae, occupy a basal position among the angiosperms in the order Austrobaileyales, making the family of major significance in studies of early flowering-plant evolution. Several Schisandra species, notably S. chinensis, are renowned medicinal plants, and the aromatic fruits of S. grandiflora are likewise used locally. Its disjunct Sino-Himalayan distribution reflects the ancient, relictual biogeography characteristic of this lineage.

Author: (Wall.) Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Saunders: Monograph of Schisandra (Systematic Botany Monographs)