Tag:

Spring

Thymelaeaceae

Edgeworthia gardneri

by GP Jürgens

(Wall.) Meisn.

Nepal 1994 255 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola
2100m April
Nepal 1994 197 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola
2100m April
sub1hsn8
Nepal Amjilassa 2400m March

Description

Edgeworthia gardneri is a deciduous to semi-evergreen shrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent mountains. GBIF records (some 484 occurrences) place it in China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam, with cultivated material in Japan, France, New Zealand and elsewhere. It grows in moist temperate broadleaved forest, forest margins, ravines and shrubby slopes, typically between about 1,500 and 2,800 m. The illustrated plants are from eastern Nepal at Mewa-Khola (2,100 m, April) and Amjilassa (2,400 m, March), flowering in late winter to early spring before or with leaf flush, characteristic of its phenology in the warm temperate zone.

The plant is a shrub 1–3 m tall with flexible, tough-barked branches that can be tied in a knot without breaking. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, entire and somewhat silky beneath. The flowers are aggregated into dense, pendent, hemispherical heads on short peduncles; each flower lacks petals, the floral tube being silky-tomentose outside and yellow within, fragrant. The fruit is a small dry achene-like drupe enclosed in the persistent perianth base.

Like its relative Daphne, Edgeworthia yields strong bast fibre: the bark is an important source of traditional handmade paper (lokta-type) in Nepal and Bhutan, giving the genus economic significance. It is also valued as a winter-flowering ornamental. The species is widespread and not globally threatened, though bark harvesting represents a localised pressure on accessible wild stands.

Author: (Wall.) Meisn. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Halda: The Genus Daphne (and allied Thymelaeaceae)

Elaeagnaceae

Elaeagnus caudata

by GP Jürgens

Schltdl.

Bh09 46 G84
Bhutan Paro 2400m, June
Bhutan2014 852 scaled
Bhutan Thimphu 2500m, May
Bhutan2014 853 scaled
Bhutan Thimphu 2500m, May

Description

Elaeagnus caudata Schltdl. ex Momiy. is a shrub or small tree of the Elaeagnaceae endemic to the central and eastern Himalaya, known from Nepal, northern India and Bhutan. Documented from only a small number of georeferenced collections, it grows in temperate forest margins, thickets, shrubby slopes and along the edges of cultivation in the mid-montane zone. The photographed plants from the Paro and Thimphu valleys of Bhutan, recorded at 2,400–2,500 m in May and June, are characteristic of its preference for the cool, well-lit temperate belt where it flowers in late spring and early summer.

The plant is densely clothed throughout in the silvery to rusty-brown peltate scales typical of the family, which give the young shoots, leaf undersides and flowers a metallic lustre. The leaves are alternate, elliptic to ovate, often long-acuminate (the caudate apex giving the species its name), green and stellate-scaly above and silvery-lepidote beneath. The flowers are small, tubular and apetalous, with a four-lobed, silvery-scaly perianth, fragrant and borne in axillary clusters. The fruit is an oblong, drupe-like achene enclosed by the fleshy, accrescent perianth tube, ripening reddish and scaly, edible when fully mature.

Like other members of Elaeagnus, the species harbours nitrogen-fixing Frankia actinobacteria in root nodules, enabling it to colonise poor soils and contribute to soil fertility, a trait that makes such shrubs significant in montane succession. Its restricted Himalayan range and the small number of records suggest it is genuinely localised, though the difficulty of distinguishing the many scaly-leaved Himalayan Elaeagnus species means its true distribution may be under-documented and warrants further survey.

Author: Schltdl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of China Vol. 13, Sun & Lin: Revision of Elaeagnus

Elaeagnaceae

Elaeagnus umbellata var. umbellata

by GP Jürgens

nn

Bhutan2014 184
Bhutan Trashyangtse 2150m, May

Description

Elaeagnus umbellata var. umbellata is the typical variety of the autumn olive, a deciduous shrub of the Elaeagnaceae native to eastern and southern Asia, with records (GBIF: c. 1,148 occurrences) from Japan, Korea, China, Nepal and India, and naturalised in parts of Europe and North America. In the Himalaya it occupies forest margins, open slopes, thickets and disturbed ground in the temperate zone, roughly between 1,200 and 3,000 m. The photographed plant from Trashyangtse in eastern Bhutan at about 2,150 m, flowering in May, reflects its spring flowering on sunny montane slopes.

The plant is a spreading shrub up to 3–4 m tall, often armed with short thorny lateral branchlets, and the young shoots, leaf undersides and fruits are densely covered with silvery and rufous peltate scales (lepidote indumentum) characteristic of the family. The leaves are alternate, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, green above and silvery-scaly beneath, with undulate margins. The flowers are small, fragrant, tubular-campanulate and creamy white to pale yellow, borne in axillary clusters; they are apetalous, the showy part being the four-lobed calyx tube. The fruit is a fleshy, drupe-like achene that ripens red, speckled with silvery scales, and is edible and sweet-acidic.

Like other Elaeagnus species, var. umbellata is an actinorhizal nitrogen-fixer hosting symbiotic Frankia in root nodules, allowing it to thrive on poor soils. This trait, combined with prolific bird-dispersed fruiting, has made it a notorious invasive shrub where introduced, though within its native Himalayan range it is a benign, locally useful component of the flora. The GBIF accepted name is rendered as Elaeagnus umbellata umbellata.

Author: nn · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 13, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, GBIF, Servettaz: Monographie des Elaeagnacees

Plantaginaceae

Ellisiophyllum pinnatum

by GP Jürgens

(Wall. ex Benth.) Makino

Bhutan2014 792 scaled
Bhutan, Mo-Chu 1500m, May
Bhutan2014 791 scaled
Bhutan

Description

Ellisiophyllum pinnatum is a wide-ranging creeping herb distributed across temperate and montane East and South-East Asia, from the Himalaya through China, Taiwan and Japan to the Philippines, New Guinea and Papua. Its 1616 GBIF records, the highest in this group, confirm a broad native range, with the few European and North American points representing cultivated or herbarium material. It favours moist, shaded ground along streamsides, damp banks, ditches and forest margins, often at lower to middle montane elevations. The plant photographed along the Mo-Chu in Bhutan at about 1500 m in May reflects this preference for cool, humid riparian habitats in the Eastern Himalaya.

It is a slender, softly pubescent perennial that creeps and roots at the nodes, forming loose mats by means of prostrate, filiform stolons. The leaves are alternate, long-petiolate and deeply pinnately lobed to pinnatisect, with rounded, crenate segments. The flowers are solitary on long, slender axillary pedicels; the campanulate calyx has five lobes, and the white, broadly campanulate to rotate corolla is five-lobed, enclosing four didynamous stamens. The fruit is a small capsule enclosed within the accrescent calyx.

Ellisiophyllum is a monotypic genus, E. pinnatum being its sole species, and its placement has long been debated; once referred to the Scrophulariaceae, it is now placed in the Plantaginaceae following molecular phylogenetic studies of the lamiid families. The creeping, stoloniferous, node-rooting habit suits colonisation of unstable, frequently disturbed streambanks. Given its extensive geographic range and ecological adaptability, the species is of no conservation concern.

Author: (Wall. ex Benth.) Makino · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Japan

Juglandaceae

Engelhardia spicata var. integra

by G & P Jürgens

(Kurz) W.E.Manning ex Steenis

Bhutan2014 684
Bhutan Wangdi-Phodrang 2280m, May

Description

Engelhardia spicata var. integra (Kurz) W.E.Manning ex Steenis is a tree of the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to the subtropical and warm-temperate forests of South and Southeast Asia. GBIF (around 136 occurrences) records the taxon from China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Bhutan, Vietnam, Myanmar and Nepal, where it forms a component of broad-leaved hill and montane forest, often on forest margins and slopes. It typically occurs in the subtropical mid-montane belt; the tree photographed at Wangdi-Phodrang in Bhutan at 2,280 m in May represents it in early-season flower within this characteristic elevational zone.

Engelhardia spicata is a medium to large deciduous tree with pinnately compound leaves; in var. integra the leaflets are characteristically entire-margined (hence "integra"), distinguishing it from forms with toothed leaflets. The leaflets are opposite to subopposite along the rachis, elliptic to oblong, glabrous to thinly pubescent. The species is monoecious, with flowers borne in long, pendulous catkin-like spikes; the most striking feature is the fruit, a small nutlet subtended by a conspicuous, enlarged, three-lobed membranous wing (an accrescent bract) that develops into a samaroid structure adapted for wind dispersal, the spikes hanging in long tassels at maturity.

The genus Engelhardia (sometimes spelled Engelhardtia) belongs to subfamily Engelhardioideae of the Juglandaceae, a primarily tropical Asian lineage distinguished from the temperate walnuts and hickories by its winged, bract-derived fruits. The wind-dispersed samaras are an important diagnostic and ecological character, enabling the tree to colonise open and disturbed hill forest. As a widespread but variable species, E. spicata has been treated with several infraspecific taxa, of which var. integra is recognised on the basis of its entire leaflet margins.

Author: (Kurz) W.E.Manning ex Steenis · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 4, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Manning: The genus Engelhardia (Juglandaceae)

Ericaceae

Enkianthus deflexus

by GP Jürgens

(Griff.) C.K.Schneid.

Sikkim2004 377 G654
Sikkim/India Lachung 2900m May
Nepal 1994 259 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 2850m May 
Sikkim 2006 21 ergebnis
Sikkim 2006 53 ergebnis
India West-Bengal Tonglu 3100m, May

Description

Enkianthus deflexus is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the temperate Himalaya and southwestern China, distributed through China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, and very well documented with around 1667 GBIF records (further records reflect wide cultivation in Europe, North America and East Asia). It forms part of the understorey and forest-margin vegetation of moist temperate forest and Rhododendron-dominated slopes, typically between about 2400 and 3600 m. The cited collections from Lachung in Sikkim (2900 m), Milka Danda in east Nepal (2850 m) and Tonglu in West Bengal (3100 m), all flowering in May, mark its synchronous late-spring anthesis across the cool, humid mid-montane belt.

The species is a many-branched shrub whose leaves cluster toward the ends of the twigs in pseudowhorls; they are obovate to elliptic, finely serrulate, often colouring richly in autumn, and subtended by reddish young growth. The flowers are borne in pendent terminal racemes or umbel-like clusters, each on a slender, often reflexed pedicel (whence deflexus). The corolla is campanulate, creamy to yellowish suffused with red veining, with five short recurved lobes; ten stamens are enclosed within. The fruit is an erect, dehiscent woody capsule on the recurving pedicel, releasing small winged or angled seeds.

Enkianthus is an early-diverging genus of the Ericaceae, sister to much of the rest of the family, and its bell-shaped, nectar-bearing flowers are pollinated by bees and other insects. E. deflexus is valued horticulturally for its dainty blossoms and brilliant autumn foliage, explaining its broad cultivated footprint. Within its native range it is common and not of conservation concern, a characteristic and widespread component of Himalayan temperate forest understoreys.

Author: (Griff.) C.K.Schneid. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Ericaceae), Stevens Revision of Enkianthus

Fabaceae

Entada rheedii subsp. sinohimalensis

by GP Jürgens

(Grierson & D.G.Long) Panigrahi

Nepal 97 51 P77
Nepal Mewa-Khola 1130m April
Nepal 97 50 P76
Nepal Mewa-Khola 1130m April

Description

Entada rheedii subsp. sinohimalensis is a Sino-Himalayan liana of warm lower-montane forest, treated by GBIF as a synonym of the accepted Entada rheedii sinohimalensis (under E. rheedii Spreng.). It is a localised eastern Himalayan taxon ranging from Nepal and Sikkim into Bhutan and adjacent China and Myanmar; GBIF holds a single Bangladesh record, underscoring how sparsely this giant climber is documented. It grows in broadleaved subtropical forest and ravine vegetation at low elevations, as in the Mewa Khola of eastern Nepal at 1130 m in April, where it scrambles high into the canopy along humid river valleys.

It is a massive woody liana with stout, twining stems and tendrillate, bipinnate leaves whose pinnae bear several pairs of asymmetric oblong leaflets, the terminal pair of pinnae often modified into a coiling tendril. The flowers are small, sessile and crowded in slender elongate spikes, creamy white to greenish-yellow, with a five-toothed calyx, five free petals and ten exserted stamens giving the inflorescence a feathery aspect. The fruit is among the largest of any legume – a huge, woody, flattened pod up to a metre long that breaks transversely into one-seeded segments, each enclosing a large, hard, glossy brown "sea bean" capable of long-distance hydrochory.

Within the mimosoid clade of Fabaceae, Entada is a pantropical genus of lianas, and subsp. sinohimalensis represents the inland Himalayan-Chinese expression of the widespread E. rheedii. The buoyant, durable seeds are dispersed by water and ocean currents and are used as charms and in folk medicine. The taxon is rarely collected and its conservation status remains unassessed.

Author: (Grierson & D.G.Long) Panigrahi · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Brenan monograph of Entada

Ephedraceae

Ephedra gerardiana var. sikkimensis

by GP Jürgens

Stapf.

BhutanPG2011 338
Bhutan Jule-Tso 4250m, June
Bhutan2014 937
Bhutan Chele-La 4100m, May
Sikkim2003 522 P727
Sikkim Yume Samdong 4700m August

Description

Ephedra gerardiana var. sikkimensis is a high-alpine gymnosperm shrublet of the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau margins, recorded from China, Bhutan, India and Nepal, with the species complex widely held in cultivation across Europe and North America. It is a plant of dry, exposed, stony alpine slopes, gravel flats, moraine and rocky pasture in the arid trans-Himalayan and high-alpine zone, characteristically between about 3500 and 5000 m. The cited collections from Jule-Tso (4250 m) and Chele-La (4100 m) in Bhutan and Yume Samdong in Sikkim at 4700 m exemplify its occurrence at the very upper limits of vascular plant growth, on wind-swept, well-drained, frost-exposed ground.

The plant is a low, densely tufted, mat-forming or cushion shrublet with slender, jointed, longitudinally grooved green branchlets that perform photosynthesis, the true leaves reduced to small connate scales at the nodes. Like all Ephedra it is dioecious and non-flowering: pollen is borne in small ovoid male strobili, while the female cones, after fertilisation, develop fleshy red, berry-like seed cones enclosing one or two seeds, an adaptation to bird dispersal in an otherwise austere environment.

The epithet sikkimensis denotes the type region in the eastern Himalaya, var. sikkimensis being a high-elevation segregate of the polymorphic E. gerardiana. Members of this genus are notable sources of ephedrine alkaloids and have a long history of medicinal and ritual use. As pioneers of stabilised scree and moraine, these dwarf shrubs are ecologically important in fragile alpine systems; though not currently threatened, harvesting and climate-driven habitat shifts warrant monitoring.

Author: Stapf. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 4, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, A Monograph of the Genus Ephedra (Stapf)

Acanthaceae

Eranthemum purpurascens

by GP Jürgens

Wight ex Nees

Nepal1992 81 P114 ergebnis
Nepal Sokathum1650m, March 

Description

Eranthemum purpurascens is a subtropical understorey shrub of the Himalayan foothills and adjacent Indian subcontinent, recorded principally from India and Nepal, with cultivated and naturalised occurrences in China, Indonesia, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and the United States reflecting its ornamental use. It grows in the shaded understorey of moist subtropical and lower temperate forest, along streambanks and shaded ravines, generally between about 600 and 1800 m. The photographed plant from Sokathum, Nepal, at roughly 1650 m and flowering in March, exemplifies its early-spring blooming in warm, sheltered hill forest before the onset of the monsoon.

The plant is an erect, soft-wooded shrub with quadrangular, often swollen-nodal stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate to elliptic, acuminate, entire to obscurely crenate, and frequently bear cystoliths visible as fine streaks on the lamina. The flowers are borne in dense terminal and axillary spikes subtended by conspicuous, often purple-tinged bracts. Each flower has a slender corolla tube expanding into a spreading five-lobed limb of pale blue to violet, with two exserted stamens; the fruit is a clavate, explosively dehiscent capsule bearing seeds on hooked retinacula typical of the Acanthaceae.

The epithet purpurascens refers to the purplish bracts and flushed foliage. Eranthemum is a tropical Asian genus allied to Pseuderanthemum and Daedalacanthus, several members of which, including this species, are cultivated for their winter and spring colour. The conspicuous bracts and tubular blue corollas are adapted to insect pollination, while the cystolith-bearing leaves are a diagnostic family feature. The species is locally common and not regarded as threatened.

Author: Wight ex Nees · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 19, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Acanthaceae of the Indian Subcontinent

Aristolochiaceae

Eria clausa

by GP Jürgens

King & Pantl.

Bhutan2014 175
Bhutan Trashiyangtse 2000m, May

Description

Eria clausa King & Pantl. is an epiphytic orchid of the subtribe Eriinae (Orchidaceae), distributed through the eastern Himalaya and adjacent regions. GBIF records (78 occurrences) document its presence in China, Vietnam, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and New Guinea, indicating a broadly Sino-Himalayan to Southeast Asian range. The species was photographed at Trashiyangtse in Bhutan at 2,000 m in May, a setting typical of its occurrence in humid, mossy broad-leaved and mixed evergreen forests, where it grows on tree trunks and branches at montane elevations between roughly 1,500 and 2,500 m.

The plant produces clustered, fleshy pseudobulbs from a short rhizome, each bearing a few coriaceous, oblong to lanceolate leaves at the apex. The inflorescence is a short, few- to several-flowered raceme arising near the pseudobulb apex; the flowers are small, whitish to pale yellow, and remain only partly opening, a feature reflected in the epithet "clausa" (closed). The lip is trilobed and the column is short and footed, conforming to the structural plan of the Eria alliance.

The genus Eria has been substantially redefined following molecular work, with many former species transferred to segregate genera; the placement of clausa should therefore be read against this ongoing reorganisation of the Eriinae. As an epiphyte dependent on intact, humid forest canopy, the species is sensitive to logging and forest degradation, and like all orchids it is listed under CITES Appendix II, regulating international trade.

Author: King & Pantl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 25, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, GBIF, Pearce & Cribb: The Orchids of Bhutan (2002)